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IMDbPro

Jackie Coogan(1914-1984)

  • Actor
  • Additional Crew
  • Director
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Jackie Coogan in Playhouse 90 (1956)
Unknown Chaplin: The Master At Work
Play trailer1:15
Unknown Chaplin (1983– )
7 Videos
99+ Photos
Jackie Coogan was born into a family of vaudevillians; his father was a dancer and his mother had been a child star. On the stage by age 4, Jackie was touring at age 5 with his family in Los Angeles, California.

While performing on the stage, he was spotted by Charles Chaplin, who then and there planned a film in which he and Jackie would star. To test Jackie, Chaplin first gave him a small part in A Day's Pleasure (1919), which proved that he had a screen presence. The movie that Chaplin planned that day was The Kid (1921), where the Tramp would raise Jackie and then lose him. The movie was very successful and Jackie would play a child in a number of movies and tour with his father on the stage.

By 1923, when he made Daddy (1923), he was one of the highest- paid stars in Hollywood. He would leave First National for MGM where they put him into Long Live the King (1923). By 1927, at age 13, Coogan had grown up on the screen and his career was going through a downturn. His popular film career would end with the classic tales of Tom Sawyer (1930) and Huckleberry Finn (1931).

In 1935, his father died and his mother married Arthur Bernstein, who was his business manager. When he wanted the money that he made as a child star in the 1920s, his mother and stepfather refused his request and Jackie filed suit for the approximately $4 million that he had made. Under California law at the time, he had no rights to the money he made as a child, and he was awarded only $126,000 in 1939. Because of the public uproar, the California Legislature passed the Child Actors Bill, also known as the Coogan Act, which would set up a trust fund for any child actor and protect his earnings.

In 1937, Jackie married Betty Grable; the marriage lasted 3 years. During World War II, he served in the Army; he returned to Hollywood after the war. Unable to restart his career, he worked in B-movies, mostly in bit parts and usually playing the heavy. In the 1950s he started to appear on television, and he acted in as many shows as he could. By the 1960s he would be in two completely different television comedy series.. The first one was McKeever and the Colonel (1962), where he played Sgt. Barnes in a military school from 1962 to 1963. The second series was the classic The Addams Family (1964), where he played Uncle Fester from 1964 to 1966. After that, he continued to make appearances on television shows and a handful of movies. He died of a heart attack in 1984.
BornOctober 26, 1914
DiedMarch 1, 1984(69)
BornOctober 26, 1914
DiedMarch 1, 1984(69)
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
  • Awards
    • 2 wins

Photos334

Jackie Coogan and Marie Blake in The Addams Family (1964)
Jackie Coogan, John Astin, and Carolyn Jones in The Addams Family (1964)
Jackie Coogan and Carolyn Jones in The Addams Family (1964)
Jackie Coogan and Carolyn Jones in The Addams Family (1964)
Jackie Coogan and Richard Reeves in The Addams Family (1964)
Jackie Coogan and Carolyn Jones in The Addams Family (1964)
Jackie Coogan, Nestor Paiva, and Richard Reeves in The Addams Family (1964)
Jackie Coogan, Nestor Paiva, and Richard Reeves in The Addams Family (1964)
Jackie Coogan, Nestor Paiva, and Richard Reeves in The Addams Family (1964)
Jackie Coogan in The Addams Family (1964)
Jackie Coogan, John Astin, and Carolyn Jones in The Addams Family (1964)
Jackie Coogan, John Astin, and Carolyn Jones in The Addams Family (1964)

Known for:

Jackie Coogan in Oliver Twist (1922)
Oliver Twist
6.6
  • Oliver Twist
  • 1922
Charles Chaplin and Jackie Coogan in The Kid (1921)
The Kid
8.3
  • The Child(as Jack Coogan)
  • 1921
Jackie Coogan, John Astin, Marie Blake, Ted Cassidy, Carolyn Jones, Lisa Loring, and Ken Weatherwax in The Addams Family (1964)
The Addams Family
8.0
TV Series
  • Uncle Fester
Tom Sawyer (1930)
Tom Sawyer
6.3
  • Tom Sawyer
  • 1930

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Actor

  • The Prey (1983)
    The Prey
    • Lester Tile
    • 1983
  • Teri Garr, Raul Julia, Desi Arnaz, and Griffin O'Neal in The Escape Artist (1982)
    The Escape Artist
    • Magic Shop Owner
    • 1982
  • Oliver Reed in Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype (1980)
    Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype
    • Sgt. Fleacollar
    • 1980
  • The Magical World of Disney (1954)
    The Magical World of Disney
    • Mr. Klein
    • TV Series
    • 1980
  • Rad Daly and Dana Hill in The Kids Who Knew Too Much (1980)
    The Kids Who Knew Too Much
    • Mr. Klein
    • TV Movie
    • 1980
  • Linda Haynes in Human Experiments (1979)
    Human Experiments
    • Sheriff Tibbs
    • 1979
  • Pat Klous, Connie Sellecca, and Kathryn Witt in Flying High (1978)
    Flying High
    • Second Man
    • TV Series
    • 1978
  • Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels (1977)
    Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels
    • Additional Voices
    • TV Series
    • 1977
  • Halloween with the New Addams Family (1977)
    Halloween with the New Addams Family
    • Uncle Fester
    • TV Movie
    • 1977
  • Art Carney in Lanigan's Rabbi (1976)
    Lanigan's Rabbi
    • R.B. Haig
    • TV Series
    • 1977
  • Roger Moore in Sherlock Holmes in New York (1976)
    Sherlock Holmes in New York
    • Haymarket Hotel Proprietor
    • TV Movie
    • 1976
  • Bruce Dern, Madeline Kahn, and Augustus von Schumacher in Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976)
    Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood
    • Stagehand 1
    • 1976
  • Claude Akins, Frank Converse, and Merle Haggard in Movin' On (1974)
    Movin' On
    • Sam Prichard
    • TV Series
    • 1976
  • McCoy (1975)
    McCoy
    • Skippy
    • TV Series
    • 1975
  • Will Geer, Anjanette Comer, Gabriel Dell, Huntz Hall, and Joyce Van Patten in The Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery (1975)
    The Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery
    • Detective Chief Anderson
    • 1975

Additional Crew

  • Tuesday Weld, Mijanou Bardot, and Mamie Van Doren in Sex Kittens Go to College (1960)
    Sex Kittens Go to College
    • dialogue director (uncredited)
    • 1960
  • The Big Operator (1959)
    The Big Operator
    • dialogue coach
    • 1959
  • Mamie Van Doren in The Beat Generation (1959)
    The Beat Generation
    • dialogue director
    • 1959

Director

  • Escape from Terror (1955)
    Escape from Terror
    • Director
    • 1955

Videos7

Trailer
Trailer 2:02
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 1:57
Trailer
ABC Promo Trailer
Trailer 1:02
ABC Promo Trailer
Unknown Chaplin: The Master At Work
Trailer 1:15
Unknown Chaplin: The Master At Work
Addams Family: Season 1
Trailer 1:43
Addams Family: Season 1
Here's Lucy: Lucy's Tenant
Trailer 1:51
Here's Lucy: Lucy's Tenant
The Evolution of The Addams Family
Video 5:02
The Evolution of The Addams Family

Personal details

Edit
  • Alternative names
    • Jack Coogan
  • Height
    • 5′ 7″ (1.70 m)
  • Born
    • October 26, 1914
    • Los Angeles, California, USA
  • Died
    • March 1, 1984
    • Santa Monica, California, USA(heart attack)
  • Spouses
      Dorothea Odetta HansonApril 1952 - March 1, 1984 (his death, 2 children)
  • Parents
      Jack Coogan Sr.
  • Relatives
      Robert Coogan(Sibling)
  • Other works
    Stage: Appeared in "Brother Rat" on Broadway.
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Print Biography
    • 38 Articles
    • 4 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Always considered his proudest moment his 1972 reunion with Charles Chaplin. After two decades of exile from the United States, Chaplin returned in March of that year to receive the Handel Medallion in New York City and a special lifetime achievement Oscar in Hollywood. Coogan was one of several people on hand to greet Chaplin when he arrived at Los Angeles International Airport. After greeting the other members of the party with perfunctory handshakes, Chaplin, immediately recognized Coogan (whom he hadn't seen in decades), warmly embraced him, saying, "You know, I think I would rather see you than anybody else." Chaplin later told Coogan's wife, "You must never forget that your husband is a genius.".
  • Quotes
    Hollywood is a lovely place to get knifed in. Today's stars are deadheads compared to the Doug Fairbanks, Errol Flynns, and Clark Gables of my day. Whatever happened to the strong leading man with no hang-ups? And today's child stars? I don't see the ability of any of these kids to carry a picture by themselves... I think their ability lasts as long as a commercial; on, off, hey, wasn't he cute?
  • Salaries
      Peck's Bad Boy
      (1921)
      $2,000 a week

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