Elizabeth Cooper, born Isabel Rosario Cooper and also known by the stage names Chabing and Dimples, was a pioneering Filipina film actress, vaudeville dancer, and singer. Born in Manila, she secured a permanent place in Philippine film history by performing the nation's first onscreen kiss in the 1926 silent film Ang Tatlong Hambog.
Beyond her early entertainment career, Cooper is widely remembered for her personal relationship with the American General Douglas MacArthur. The two met in the 1930s when Cooper was a young woman and MacArthur was in his fifties. At his arrangement, she relocated from Manila to Washington, D.C., to live as his mistress while he served as the United States Army Chief of Staff.
This relationship became a major liability for MacArthur during a libel lawsuit he filed against journalist Drew Pearson. When Pearson threatened to depose Cooper as a witness, MacArthur dropped the lawsuit and paid Cooper $15,000—allegedly delivered by his aide, Dwight D. Eisenhower—to leave Washington. Cooper remained in the United States, attempting to establish a career in Hollywood and later operating a hairdressing shop in the Midwest before her death by suicide in 1960.
