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May 17, 2024 · Before he starred in 'The Addams Family,' Jackie Coogan's real life was full of its own rocky drama, notably the loss of $4 million to his greedy guardians. ... John Leslie “Jackie” Coogan was ...
- It Was His Destiny to Be An Artist
- His First Stage Appearance Was Bizarre
- He Was A Natural
- He “Shimmied” His Way Into Fame
- He Had A Breakout Role
- He Was Witness to Chaplin's Greatest Tragedy
- He Became An Icon
- His Life Was Unreal
- He Nearly Died
- He Had A Difficult Transition
Born John Leslie Coogan, “Jackie” had no chance but to become an artist. His father John and mother Lillian were both actors; in particular, his mother had been a child star in her own day. As a result, Jackie came into the world, and his parents instantly started prepping him for the stage. In fact, they had a brilliant and dangerous idea. Wikimed...
The family business was in vaudeville, and the Coogans loved to perform comedic songs and dances on stage. They knew just what to do with Jackie. Everybody loves a baby, so they plopped him in front of an audience when he was just an infant, making him part of their act. It worked verywell. Maybe a little too well. Wikimedia Commos
It became clear to everyone who saw little Jackie on stage that he was what show business called a triple threat. But he had something more. Not only could he sing, dance, and act, he was also full of charm and possessed a wide, guileless face. By the age of five, the little dynamo was even performing at the Orpheum theatre...and that's when his li...
One night at the Orpheum, destiny came for Jackie Coogan. While the little boy was performing the popular dance move the "shimmy," a very important person was watching from the audience, rapt with the rapscallion. None other than Charlie Chaplinwitnessed Jackie's charm, and knew he had to use him somehow. This one little dance move kickstarted an e...
Chaplin soon signed on Coogan for a major part in his upcoming film The Kid, where Jackie would star alongside the silent film legend as the titular kid. To say it was a breakout role would be an understatement; the part turned Jackie Coogan into the first true child star in film history. Yet there is a heartbreaking detail to Coogan's Kidrole that...
The Kid is an enormous part of Coogan's legacy today, but the film has a dark secret at its heart.Coogan and Chaplin's characters have a deep, lasting relationship in the film, and film historians believe Chaplin focused on this bond while shooting because he had lost his own infant son just days before filming began. It was the first tragedy Cooga...
Coogan came out of The Kid as the most famous child in the world, and even bigger parts, like playing Oliver in 1922's Oliver Twist, quickly came his way. He was now just eight years old, and he was everywhere: His face adorned scads of merchandise, from peanut butter jars to stationery. Yet this early fame came with a huge, disturbing downside. Wi...
During these years, Coogan raked in an unfathomable amount of money—multiple millions, to be exact. And although he wasn't able to really spend any of it until he turned 21, the little boy was certainly aware of his fame and success. He quickly grew a diva attitude match, once saying, "Other boys went to see Babe Ruth. Babe Ruth came to see me". Bu...
During his mega-famous childhood, Coogan was in the middle of a terrifying disaster.In November 1920, a car he was a passenger in crashed into a tree. While his fellow riders were mostly safe, Coogan didn't get so lucky. His injury, a skull fracture, was so serious that medics thought he wouldn't make it, and were in awe of his recovery. But there ...
Coogan's young fame continued well into the 1920s, but by the 1930s, he had turned into a gangly teen, with little traces of the cherubic boy people had fallen in love with in The Kid. As a result, his star began to fade, and he booked fewer and fewer jobs. But don't go thinking Coogan left behind the drama. Instead, it exploded. Wikimedia Commons
Apr 2, 2024 · Before he starred in 'The Addams Family,' Jackie Coogan's real life was full of its own rocky drama, notably the loss of $4 million to his greedy guardians.
Mar 16, 2018 · Appropriately enough, the actor who became filmdom’s first major child star made his mark in a dramatic comedy called The Kid.While many child stars don’t go on to become successful adult actors, Coogan found fame and a new generation of fans in his middle age as the wacky Uncle Fester on the hit 1960s TV show The Addams Family.
Mar 28, 2024 · The Addams Family celebrates 60 years of charming audiences in 2024, and author Edward K. Cooper gives Closer exclusive secrets from the set of the show. ... Jackie Coogan went to even greater ...
Jackie Coogan. John Leslie Coogan (October 26, 1914 – March 1, 1984) was an American actor and comedian who began his film career as a child actor in silent films. [2] Coogan's role in Charlie Chaplin 's film The Kid (1921) made him one of the first child stars in the history of Hollywood.
Jackie Coogan ("The Kid," "Addams Family") the silent screen superstar and veteran performer joined host Rob Word in 1974 for a television interview and mov...
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