Jackie Coogan
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.
Photos
Films (89)
La voz de Charlie Chaplin
2021 · Self (archive footage)
Jackie Coogan: The First Child Star
2015 · Self (archive footage)
Chaplin Today: The Kid
2003 · Self (archive footage)
Lon Chaney L'homme Aux 1000 Visages
2000 · Self (archive footage)
The Addams Family Album
1992 · Uncle Fester (archive footage)
Hollywood Scandals and Tragedies
1988 · (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Prey
1983 · Lester Tile
The Escape Artist
1982 · Magic Shop Owner
Hollywood’s Children
1982 · Self
Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype
1980 · Sgt. Fleacollar
The Kids Who Knew Too Much
1980 · Mr. Klein
Human Experiments
1979 · Sheriff Tibbs
When the West Was Fun: A Western Reunion
1979 · Self
Halloween with the New Addams Family
1977 · Uncle Fester
Sherlock Holmes in New York
1976 · Haymarket Hotel Proprietor
Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood
1976 · Stagehand 1
The Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery
1975 · Detective Chief Anderson
Lucy Gets Lucky
1975 · Gus Mitchell
The Specialists
1975 · Roger
The Phantom of Hollywood
1974 · Jonathan
Cahill: United States Marshal
1973 · Charlie Smith
Scooby-Doo Meets The Addams Family
1972 · Uncle Fester (Voice)
Marlowe
1969 · Grant W. Hicks
The Shakiest Gun in the West
1968 · Matthew Basch
Rogue's Gallery
1968 · Funeral Director
Clown Alley
1966 · Clown
A Fine Madness
1966 · Mr. Fitzgerald
Girl Happy
1965 · Sgt. Benson
John Goldfarb, Please Come Home!
1965 · Father Ryan
When the Girls Take Over
1962 · Captain Toussaint
The Legend of Rudolph Valentino
1961 · Self (archive footage)
Sex Kittens Go to College
1960 · Wildcat MacPherson
The Big Operator
1959 · Ed Brannell
The Beat Generation
1959 · Jake Baron
Lonelyhearts
1959 · Ned Gates
Night of the Quarter Moon
1959 · Desk Sergeant Bragan
No Place to Land
1958 · Swede
The Space Children
1958 · Hank Johnson
High School Confidential!
1958 · Mr. A
The Troublemakers
1957 · Bender
Eighteen and Anxious
1957 · Harold 'Eager' Beaver
The Joker is Wild
1957 · Swifty Morgan
The Buster Keaton Story
1957 · Elmer Case
Where's Charley?
1957 · Coach Sanderford
The Star Wagon
1957 · Hanus Wicks
Forbidden Area
1956 · The Cook
The Proud Ones
1956 · Man on Make (uncredited)
Escape from Terror
1955 · Agent Petrov, Director
The Actress
1953 · Inopportune (uncredited)
Mesa of Lost Women
1953 · Dr Aranya
Outlaw Women
1952 · Piute Bill
Varieties on Parade
1951 · Himself
Skipalong Rosenbloom
1951 · Buck Lovelace
French Leave
1948 · Pappy Reagan
Kilroy Was Here
1947 · Pappy Collins
Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)
1942 · Self (archive footage)
Sky Patrol
1939 · Carter Meade
Million Dollar Legs
1939 · Russ Simpson
College Swing
1938 · Jackie
Love in September
1936 · Jackie
Sunkist Stars at Palm Springs
1936 · Self
Home on the Range
1935 · Jack Hatfield
Huckleberry Finn
1931 · Tom Sawyer
Tom Sawyer
1930 · Tom Sawyer
Estrellados
1930 · Self (Guest Appearance at Premiere)
Free and Easy
1930 · Jackie Coogan - at Premiere (uncredited)
The Circus: Premiere
1928 · Self
Buttons
1927 · Buttons
Character Studies
1927 · Self (uncredited)
The Bugle Call
1927 · Billy Randolph
Johnny Get Your Hair Cut
1927 · Johnny O'Day
Old Clothes
1925 · Timothy Kelly
The Rag Man
1925 · Tim Kelly
Hello, 'Frisco
1924 · Jackie Coogan
Little Robinson Crusoe
1924 · Mickey Hogan
A Boy of Flanders
1924 · Nello
Meet Jackie Coogan
1924 · Himself
Long Live the King
1923 · Crown Prince Ferdinand William Otto
Circus Days
1923 · Toby Tyler
Daddy
1923 · Jackie Savelli / Jackie Holden
Oliver Twist
1922 · Oliver Twist
Seeing Stars
1922 · Self
Trouble
1922 · Danny, the Kid
Nice and Friendly
1922 · Boy
My Boy
1921 · Jackie Blair
Peck's Bad Boy
1921 · Henry Peck
The Kid
1921 · The Kid
A Day's Pleasure
1919 · Smallest Boy (uncredited)
Skinner's Baby
1917 · The Baby (uncredited)
Séries (55)
Unknown Chaplin
1983 · Self
Hollywood
1980 · Self
$weepstake$
1979
Flying High
1978
Movin' On
1974
The Addams Family
1973 · Uncle Fester (voice)
Police Story
1973
Barnaby Jones
1973 · Phil Rooney
Cool Million
1972 · Merrill Cossack
The Brian Keith Show
1972
The New Scooby-Doo Movies
1972 · Uncle Fester (voice)
Emergency!
1972 · Junkyard Owner
McMillan & Wife
1971 · Howard Sparks
The Jimmy Stewart Show
1971
Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
1971 · Zigler
The New Andy Griffith Show
1971
Alias Smith and Jones
1971
The Partridge Family
1970 · Max Pepper, Grandpa Walter Renfrew
Love, American Style
1969 · Uncle Harold, Motel Owner
The Brady Bunch
1969
Marcus Welby, M.D.
1969 · Vince Darrell
Hawaii Five-O
1969 · Horace Sibley, Jerry Howe, Frank
Here's Lucy
1968 · Kermit Bosworth
Adam-12
1968 · Harry Rustin
The Name of the Game
1968 · Connie Hart
The Outsider
1968 · Rusty
Ironside
1967 · Buster Logan, Sam McGoff
Family Affair
1966
I Dream of Jeannie
1965 · Suleiman
The Wild Wild West
1965 · Mayor Cecil Pudney, Sheriff Koster
The Addams Family
1964 · Uncle Fester
Burke's Law
1963 · Bert Crowley
Vacation Playhouse
1963 · Finnegan
The Lucy Show
1962 · Lieutenant Ruggles
McKeever and the Colonel
1962 · Sgt. Barnes
The Virginian
1962 · Bodey
The Dick Powell Show
1961 · Shopkeeper
The Andy Griffith Show
1960 · George Stevens
Outlaws
1960
Mr. Lucky
1959 · Joe Azevedo
Hawaiian Eye
1959 · Mack Stanley
Lock-Up
1959
77 Sunset Strip
1958 · Baldy Mike Hannigan (uncredited)
Peter Gunn
1958
Shirley Temple's Storybook
1958 · Marshal Rogers
Perry Mason
1957 · Elwood P. 'Gunner' Grimes, Pete Desmond, Gus Sawyer, Ron Litten
Matinee Theater
1955
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
1955 · George Bay
Gunsmoke
1955 · Marshal Stoudenaire
The Wonderful World of Disney
1954 · Mr. Klein
Letter to Loretta
1953 · Woody Woods, Snuff Carter
General Electric Theater
1953 · Marshal Stubb Snider
Cowboy G-Men
1952
The Red Skelton Show
1951 · Police Officer Hennesey, Muggsy, Police Lieutenant Smith
Studio One
1948 · Jeffers