Bradley Cooper refused to go nude for college travel show

Actor Bradley Cooper stood up to TV producers while serving as a travel show host during his college years when they tried to pressure him into stripping off for a tour of a nudist beach in Croatia.

The Hangover star took on the globe-trotting job while studying for a post-graduate's degree, but he insists it wasn't all fun and games, and one trip to eastern Europe prompted a showdown with program producers.

The then-budding actor refused to go naked for the segment because he feared the embarrassing footage would surface later in life if and when he rose to fame, and he would forever regret it.

During an appearance on America's The Tonight Show on Thursday (22Nov12), he said, "When I was in grad school I got this job hosting extreme treks basically, and we went all over the world. We went to Croatia, we went to Prince William Sound in Alaska and Peru...

"I did one very smart thing. We went to Croatia and sailed the Kornati Islands and there was this one nude beach and I remember they tried to peer pressure me to get naked and do this tour.

"I said, 'You know guys, I kinda wanna be an actor, this really is my thing... and just on the weird chance that I might be on The Tonight Show years later...' - I didn't say that, but... - 'they would have footage of me walking naked'. I said no, but I still walked through the camp."

As a compromise, Cooper agreed to disrobe for the final shot of the Croatia episode, which featured him in the shadows dropping his pants and diving into the water at sunset - and that clip was shown on The Tonight Show.