Out of his six-decade career, there’s one moment Dr Harry Cooper remembers as if it were yesterday. It was 1993 and he was attending the TV WEEK Logie Awards at Melbourne’s Grand Hyatt to promote his first TV show, Talk To The Animals, which had just begun airing a couple of months prior on Nine.
“I remember I was sitting with my wife at the time [Janine Morganti] behind [executive producer] Des Monaghan, who was quite a big mover and shaker back in those days in TV, and he was having a conversation about me,” Dr Harry, 82, tells Woman’s Day.
“My wife could overhear them, and having had three or four champagnes, she was feeling a bit merry, shall we say, and she walked over to him, tapped him on the head with her fist and said, ‘Don’t worry about my husband, he’ll be around a lot longer thank you think,’” he laughs. “It was like something out of a British slapstick comedy,” he adds.
And, as it turns out, she was also right.
“Talk To The Animals aired to more than 3.6 million Aussies back then, and I was on that show for four seasons,” he enthuses.“And I’m still going. I’m not sure what Mr Monaghan is up to these days…”
EVERLASTING LEGACY
Sixty years on as a veterinarian Dr Harry has not only lasted, he’s become one of the country’s most trusted and beloved faces. But as he reflects on an extraordinary career, it’s clear his story was never about fame. It was always about the animals.
“It’s a long time, isn’t it?” he says of his milestone. “But they’ve been great years. Every single one of them.”
From humble beginnings as a young Sydney University graduate in 1965 – one of just a handful of veterinarian courses offered in Australia at the time – Harry’s career has taken him from country farms to television studios and across the world.
“I’ve always loved being a vet,” he says simply. “It’s just who I am.”
That passion has seen him take on everything from working at the RSPCA to treating livestock in rural Australia, including one unforgettable encounter.
A cow, mid-treatment, became agitated and quite literally ran over the top of him.
“I thought that was enough for me,” he laughs. “I packed up my gear and drove home.”
But it wasn’t long before he found his feet, eventually building a practice, and then appearances on a local Sydney chat show and on Don Burke’s radio program led to an unexpected and successful pivot into television!
Not that his start on the small screen was any smoother than that day in the paddock.
“I remember turning up to the studios and they said, ‘No, you’re not on the list. Go away,’” he recalls of his first gig. “That happened twice.” On his third attempt, he was rushed into the studio and thrown straight into a half-hour live segment as a last-minute replacement. By the end of the segment, the switchboard had lit up – he was a hit!
“There were 20 lights on it and everyone wanted to talk to me,” he said.
That moment marked the beginning of a stellar TV career spanning more than 40 years – first on Nine for Burke’s Backyard then a move to Seven brought us Talk To The Animals. But it is for Harry’s Practice and his regular slot on Better Homes And Gardens for which he is most fondly known.
“I think it’s an extreme rarity today,” he says of his longevity in the business.
“Not bad for a bloke who was told no one would watch a show about animals, is it?”
But his impact has gone far beyond ratings, with Harry proudly revealing that once “50 per cent of all enrolments into veterinary faculties in Australia did so because of Harry’s Practice.”
“That’ll do as a legacy,” he smiles.
PRIDE IN HIS PROFESSION
Despite the bright lights, Harry’s never lost sight of what matters most – the animals!
“You’re entitled to give life, to save life… and to take life,” he says of being a vet. “That’s a massive undertaking.”
After decades in the job, it’s a responsibility that still weighs heavily on him, especially when it comes to his own much-loved pets.
“The hardest thing I’ve ever done was putting down my wife’s favourite dog, Sassy,” he says, choking up. “It’s bad when it’s someone else’s but when it’s your own animal, a member of your family, it’s hard.”
Harry, who now resides on a sprawling farm just outside Port Macquarie with his wife of four years Susan and 90 geese, 84 chickens, 50 horses, seven dogs and one rainbow lorikeet, to be exact, says animals aren’t just part of life – they are life.
“If we didn’t have our animals, we wouldn’t have one another, I’m sure of that,” he says. “But Suze really is my backstop, she’s my everything.”
Even now, Harry has no intention of slowing down and plans to do what he does best for as long as his knees will allow. “I’m looking at a dog tomorrow, in fact,” he says. “So, am I still a vet? Absolutely. Always will be. You become addicted to helping.”
Looking back on his extraordinary career, Harry is proud – not of himself but of the profession he’s dedicated his life to.
“I’m proud of being a vet,” he says. “That’s what I’m proud of. Everything else has been incredible, but that’s all that really matters.”
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