Will Kane In 1952, Gary Cooper won a Golden Globe Award and his second Academy Award for his portrayal of Will Kane. While "The Washington Post" refers to the character as "A Classic Role," "Entertainment Weekly" ranked the character fourteenth on its list of the top twenty "All-Time Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture" in April 2009. The magazine included him on its list because in ""High Noon", Gary Cooper's retiring lawman faces down a killer and his goons despite being deserted by the rest of the town." "Entertainment Weekly" went on to cite his most heroic move as when "Kane's last ally
High Noon were making together. Fleischer says his RKO contract prevented him from directing "High Noon". John Wayne was originally offered the lead role in the film, but turned it down because he felt that Foreman's story was an obvious allegory against blacklisting, which he actively supported. Later, he told an interviewer that he would "never regret having helped run [Foreman] out of the country". Cooper was Wayne's longtime friend, and shared his conservative political views; he had been a "friendly witness" before HUAC, but did not implicate anyone as a suspected Communist, and later became a vigorous opponent of blacklisting. Ironically,