Jackie Coogan
Acting • Born 1914-10-26 – Died 1984-03-01
Biography
John Leslie Coogan (October 26, 1914 – March 1, 1984), known professionally as Jackie Coogan, was an American actor who began his movie career as a child actor in silent films. Many years later, he became known as Uncle Fester on 1960s sitcom The Addams Family. In the interim, he sued his mother and stepfather over his squandered film earnings and provoked California to enact the first known legal protection for the earnings of child performers. Coogan enlisted in the U.S. Army in March 1941. After the attack on Pearl Harbor that December, he requested a transfer to Army Air Forces as a glider pilot because of his civilian flying experience. Graduating the Advanced Glider School with the Glider Pilot aeronautical rating and the rank of Flight Officer, he volunteered for hazardous duty with the 1st Air Commando Group. In December 1943, the unit was sent to India. He flew British troops, the Chindits, under General Orde Wingate on March 5, 1944, landing them at night in a small jungle clearing 100 miles (160 km) behind Japanese lines in the Burma Campaign. After the war, Coogan returned to acting, taking mostly character roles and appearing on television. From 1952 to 1953, he played Stoney Crockett on the syndicated series Cowboy G-Men. He guest-starred on NBC's The Martha Raye Show. He appeared, too, as Corbett in two episodes of NBC's The Outlaws with Barton MacLane, which aired from 1960–1962. In the 1960–1961 season, he guest-starred in the episode "The Damaged Dolls" of the syndicated crime drama The Brothers Brannagan. In 1961, he guest-starred in an episode of The Americans, an NBC series about family divisions stemming from the Civil War. He also appeared in episode 37, titled "Barney on the Rebound", of The Andy Griffith Show, which aired October 31, 1961. He had a regular role in a 1962–63 NBC series, McKeever and the Colonel. He finally found his most famous television role as Uncle Fester in ABC's The Addams Family (1964–1966). He appeared as a police officer in the Elvis Presley comedy Girl Happy in 1965. He appeared four times on the Perry Mason series, including the role of political activist Gus Sawyer in the 1963 episode "The Case of the Witless Witness", and TV prop man Pete Desmond in the final episode, "The Case of the Final Fadeout", in 1966. He was a guest several times on The Red Skelton Show, appeared twice on The Brady Bunch ("The Fender Benders" and "Double Parked"), I Dream of Jeannie (as Jeannie's uncle, Suleiman – Maharaja of Basenji), Family Affair, Here's Lucy, and The Brian Keith Show, and continued to guest-star on television (including multiple appearances on The Partridge Family, The Wild Wild West, Hawaii Five-O, and McMillan and Wife) until his retirement in the mid 1970s. Description above from the Wikipedia article Jackie Coogan, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography
157 credits
Marlowe
Movie • 1969
Grant W. Hicks
Estrellados
Movie • 1930
Self (Guest Appearance at Premiere)
The Kid
Movie • 1921
The Kid
The Shakiest Gun in the West
Movie • 1968
Matthew Basch
Mesa of Lost Women
Movie • 1953
Dr Aranya
Sherlock Holmes in New York
Movie • 1976
Haymarket Hotel Proprietor
The Beat Generation
Movie • 1959
Jake Baron
High School Confidential!
Movie • 1958
Mr. A
Skinner's Baby
Movie • 1917
The Baby (uncredited)
Johnny Get Your Hair Cut
Movie • 1927
Johnny O'Day
Love in September
Movie • 1936
Jackie
The Actress
Movie • 1953
Inopportune (uncredited)
Escape from Terror
Movie • 1955
Agent Petrov
The Buster Keaton Story
Movie • 1957
Elmer Case
Clown Alley
Movie • 1966
Clown
Oliver Twist
Movie • 1922
Oliver Twist
Nice and Friendly
Movie • 1922
Boy
My Boy
Movie • 1921
Jackie Blair
Human Experiments
Movie • 1979
Sheriff Tibbs
When the West Was Fun: A Western Reunion
Movie • 1979
Self
The Legend of Rudolph Valentino
Movie • 1961
Self (archive footage)
Outlaw Women
Movie • 1952
Piute Bill
Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype
Movie • 1980
Sgt. Fleacollar
Lonelyhearts
Movie • 1959
Ned Gates
The Rag Man
Movie • 1925
Tim Kelly
Peck's Bad Boy
Movie • 1921
Henry Peck
The Space Children
Movie • 1958
Hank Johnson
College Swing
Movie • 1938
Jackie
Seeing Stars
Movie • 1922
Self
Rogue's Gallery
Movie • 1968
Funeral Director
Tom Sawyer
Movie • 1930
Tom Sawyer
When the Girls Take Over
Movie • 1962
Captain Toussaint
The Big Operator
Movie • 1959
Ed Brannell
Sunkist Stars at Palm Springs
Movie • 1936
Self
Night of the Quarter Moon
Movie • 1959
Desk Sergeant Bragan
Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)
Movie • 1942
Self (archive footage)
Forbidden Area
Movie • 1956
The Cook
Cahill: United States Marshal
Movie • 1973
Charlie Smith
The Circus: Premiere
Movie • 1928
Self
The Specialists
Movie • 1975
Roger
Huckleberry Finn
Movie • 1931
Tom Sawyer
No Place to Land
Movie • 1958
Swede
Sex Kittens Go to College
Movie • 1960
Wildcat MacPherson
The Joker is Wild
Movie • 1957
Swifty Morgan
Free and Easy
Movie • 1930
Jackie Coogan - at Premiere (uncredited)
Sky Patrol
Movie • 1939
Carter Meade
The Phantom of Hollywood
Movie • 1974
Jonathan
The Prey
Movie • 1983
Lester Tile
Million Dollar Legs
Movie • 1939
Russ Simpson
French Leave
Movie • 1948
Pappy Reagan
Meet Jackie Coogan
Movie • 1924
Himself
Halloween with the New Addams Family
Movie • 1977
Uncle Fester
A Day's Pleasure
Movie • 1919
Smallest Boy (uncredited)
Eighteen and Anxious
Movie • 1957
Harold 'Eager' Beaver
The Escape Artist
Movie • 1982
Magic Shop Owner
Skipalong Rosenbloom
Movie • 1951
Buck Lovelace
A Boy of Flanders
Movie • 1924
Nello
Character Studies
Movie • 1927
Self (uncredited)
The Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery
Movie • 1975
Detective Chief Anderson
Varieties on Parade
Movie • 1951
Himself
A Fine Madness
Movie • 1966
Mr. Fitzgerald
Lucy Gets Lucky
Movie • 1975
Gus Mitchell
Old Clothes
Movie • 1925
Timothy Kelly
Home on the Range
Movie • 1935
Jack Hatfield
Kilroy Was Here
Movie • 1947
Pappy Collins
The Bugle Call
Movie • 1927
Billy Randolph
Hello, 'Frisco
Movie • 1924
Jackie Coogan
Girl Happy
Movie • 1965
Sgt. Benson
Long Live the King
Movie • 1923
Crown Prince Ferdinand William Otto
John Goldfarb, Please Come Home!
Movie • 1965
Father Ryan
Lon Chaney: A thousand faces
Movie • 2000
Self (archive footage)
Trouble
Movie • 1922
Danny, the Kid
Circus Days
Movie • 1923
Toby Tyler
Daddy
Movie • 1923
Jackie Savelli / Jackie Holden
The Proud Ones
Movie • 1956
Man on Make (uncredited)
Chaplin Today: The Kid
Movie • 2003
Self (archive footage)
Buttons
Movie • 1927
Buttons
Hollywood’s Children
Movie • 1982
Self
Little Robinson Crusoe
Movie • 1924
Mickey Hogan
Jackie Coogan: The First Child Star
Movie • 2015
Self (archive footage)
Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood
Movie • 1976
Stagehand 1
The Kids Who Knew Too Much
Movie • 1980
Mr. Klein
Scooby-Doo Meets The Addams Family
Movie • 1972
Uncle Fester (Voice)
The Real Charlie Chaplin
Movie • 2021
Self (archive footage)
Hollywood Scandals and Tragedies
Movie • 1988
The Addams Family Album
Movie • 1992
Uncle Fester (archive footage)
The Star Wagon
Movie • 1957
Hanus Wicks
Where's Charley?
Movie • 1957
Coach Sanderford
The Andy Griffith Show
TV • 1960
George Stevens
Movin' On
TV • 1974
Family Affair
TV • 1966
The Dick Powell Show
TV • 1961
Shopkeeper
Burke's Law
TV • 1963
Bert Crowley
Here's Lucy
TV • 1968
Kermit Bosworth
The New Scooby-Doo Movies
TV • 1972
Uncle Fester (voice)
The New Andy Griffith Show
TV • 1971
Hawaii Five-O
TV • 1968
Horace Sibley
The Brady Bunch
TV • 1969
The Lucy Show
TV • 1962
Lieutenant Ruggles
Alias Smith and Jones
TV • 1971
Perry Mason
TV • 1957
Elwood P. 'Gunner' Grimes
Gunsmoke
TV • 1955
Marshal Stoudenaire
Studio One
TV • 1948
Jeffers
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
Marshal Stubb Snider
Emergency!
TV • 1972
Ironside
TV • 1967
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV • 1955
George Bay
Outlaws
TV • 1960
Cowboy G-Men
TV • 1952
McMillan & Wife
TV • 1971
Police Story
TV • 1973
The Virginian
TV • 1962
Bodey
Peter Gunn
TV • 1958
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
TV • 1963
The Jimmy Stewart Show
TV • 1971
Matinee Theater
TV • 1955
Lock-Up
TV • 1959
The Addams Family
TV • 1964
Uncle Fester
The Brian Keith Show
TV • 1972
Vacation Playhouse
TV • 1963
Finnegan
Flying High
TV • 1978
Letter to Loretta
TV • 1953
Woody Woods
77 Sunset Strip
TV • 1958
Baldy Mike Hannigan (uncredited)
McKeever and the Colonel
TV • 1962
Sgt. Barnes
The Addams Family
TV • 1973
Uncle Fester (voice)
Hawaiian Eye
TV • 1959
Mack Stanley
McMillan & Wife
TV • 1971
Howard Sparks
Letter to Loretta
TV • 1953
Snuff Carter
Adam-12
TV • 1968
Harry Rustin
Perry Mason
TV • 1957
Pete Desmond
Unknown Chaplin
TV • 1983
Self
Hawaii Five-O
TV • 1968
Jerry Howe
Hawaii Five-O
TV • 1968
Frank
Perry Mason
TV • 1957
Gus Sawyer
Perry Mason
TV • 1957
Ron Litten
The Wild Wild West
TV • 1965
Mayor Cecil Pudney
Love, American Style
TV • 1969
Uncle Harold
Love, American Style
TV • 1969
Motel Owner
The Wonderful World of Disney
TV • 1954
Mr. Klein
Ironside
TV • 1967
Buster Logan
Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
TV • 1971
Zigler
I Dream of Jeannie
TV • 1965
Suleiman
Barnaby Jones
TV • 1973
Phil Rooney
Ironside
TV • 1967
Sam McGoff
The Outsider
TV • 1968
Rusty
Cool Million
TV • 1972
Merrill Cossack
Shirley Temple's Storybook
TV • 1958
Marshal Rogers
The Wild Wild West
TV • 1965
Sheriff Koster
Marcus Welby, M.D.
TV • 1969
Vince Darrell
The Red Skelton Show
TV • 1951
Police Officer Hennesey
Hollywood
TV • 1980
Self
$weepstake$
TV • 1979
The Partridge Family
TV • 1970
Max Pepper
The Partridge Family
TV • 1970
Grandpa Walter Renfrew
Mr. Lucky
TV • 1959
Joe Azevedo
The Red Skelton Show
TV • 1951
Muggsy
The Name of the Game
TV • 1968
Connie Hart