Mark is not a native of central Pennsylvania, ( he traveled all over the country as a kid from a Hawaii to Alaska to Maine) but his family settled in Hollidaysburg when Mark was in high school.  Growing up and spending his teenage years in a small town made him yearn for something more...the "big" city.  The closest to our little neck of the woods was...of course...Pittsburgh. That is where he headed ...straight out of high school.

 

He has had two claims to fame.  First, he was known as The White Shirt Zombie in George Romero's 1978 movie Dawn of the Dead.  He tells the story, that his brush with movie stardom was quite by accident.  He said that his friend told him that they were shooting a monster movie at the Monroeville Mall and they needed people to be in it. Basically, he was chosen out of many people that showed up, purely by luck.  He said, "They lined us all up and just looked us over and picked who they thought looked like zombies.

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To read Mark's entire interview, please look for the upcoming book They Came From Blair County to be released by the end of 2020.

 

 

**Information for this article was obtained through an in person interview with Mark Whitey Cooper.

**All pictures are from Mark Whitey Cooper's personal collection.