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<img src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-13/general-macarthur-and-dimples-cooper-sm.webp" alt=" General Douglas MacArthur and Isabel Rosario Cooper" loading="lazy" />
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(Douglas MacArthur in 1943 or 1944 and Isabel Rosario Cooper in 1940)
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Isabel appeared in a few Filipino films starting in 1925, under the screen name "Chabing". Two of her films were Miracles of Love (1925) and Ang Tatlong Hambog (1926). In the latter film, Cooper made Philippine film history with Luis Tuason when they performed the very first kissing scene in a Philippine film. She was 12 years old at the time.
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She did not act in any Filipino films after 1930, although the 1941 Tagalog film "Ikaw Pala" is sometimes wrongly attributed to her. "Ikaw Pala" had another actress named Cresencia Aligada acting in it in a supporting role; Aligada also went by the screen name "Dimples," hence the mistaken identity.
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In 1930, at the age of 16, Cooper met the American General Douglas MacArthur, then commander of all U.S. troops in the Philippines. MacArthur's marriage had ended a year earlier. Cooper became his mistress in Manila, a fact the 50-year-old MacArthur hid from his 80-year-old mother. In Manila, the teenaged Cooper lived in <a href="https://kahimyang.com/articles/3021/brief-history-of-paco-manila" class="news_link">Paco</a>.
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Five months after they first met, MacArthur returned to the United States; while he intended to bring her to Washington, he could not risk scandal by traveling with her, so he bought her a ticket on a ship to arrive after him. She arrived in Washington and ended up ensconced in an apartment in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. MacArthur later moved her to the Chastleton Hotel (now a co-op building). 
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According to one biographer of MacArthur, William Manchester, MacArthur "showered Cooper with presents and bought her many lacy tea gowns, but no raincoat. She didn't need one, he told her; her duty lay in bed."
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Dimples lived a life of luxury, although everything was kept in secret. Since she was not expected to go out, Dimples spent most of her time inside the apartment with only a pet poodle as her companion. The boredom soon took its toll on Dimples so she began traveling around the city in style and had affairs with several prominent men. Or so the story goes.
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In 1933, when the secret affair threatened to become public, MacArthur brought it to an end, reportedly giving her $15,000 and a ticket back to the Philippines, the money and ticket allegedly delivered by his aide, future US President, <a href="https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/1678/june-14-1960-dwight-eisenhower-arrived-in-manila-for-state-visit" class="news_link">Dwight Eisenhower</a>. 
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While serving as Army Chief of Staff, MacArthur filed a libel action against a journalist at The Washington Post, Drew Pearson. When Pearson added Cooper to his list of witnesses to be deposed, MacArthur dropped the suit. 
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Isabel did not use the ticket and never returned to the Philippines. 
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Isabel Rosario Cooper: MacArthur's mistress

Today in Philippine history, January 15, 1914, Isabel Rosario Cooper, MacArthur's mistress and recipient of the first on-screen kiss in Philippine cinema, was born in Manila

January 15, 1914: Isabel Rosario Cooper, MacArthur's mistress and recipient of the first on-screen kiss in Philippine cinema, was born in Manila