
Jackie Coogan
Known for Acting · 143 credits
- Born
- 1914-10-26
- Died
- 1984-03-01
- Place of birth
- Los Angeles, California, USA
- Also known as
- John Leslie Coogan · John L. Coogan · Jack Coogan
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.
Known For

Perry Mason
1957
as Elwood P. 'Gunner' Grimes / Pete Desmond / Gus Sawyer / Ron Litten

The Andy Griffith Show
1960
as George Stevens

Emergency!
1972

Hawaii Five-O
1968
as Horace Sibley / Jerry Howe / Frank

Ironside
1967
as Buster Logan / Sam McGoff

The Red Skelton Show
1951
as Police Officer Hennesey / Muggsy / Police Lieutenant Smith
TV Shows (55)

Perry Mason
1957
as Elwood P. 'Gunner' Grimes / Pete Desmond / Gus Sawyer / Ron Litten

The Andy Griffith Show
1960
as George Stevens

Emergency!
1972

Hawaii Five-O
1968
as Horace Sibley / Jerry Howe / Frank

Ironside
1967
as Buster Logan / Sam McGoff

The Red Skelton Show
1951
as Police Officer Hennesey / Muggsy / Police Lieutenant Smith

Adam-12
1968
as Harry Rustin

The Wild Wild West
1965
as Mayor Cecil Pudney / Sheriff Koster

The Virginian
1962
as Bodey

Love, American Style
1969
as Uncle Harold / Motel Owner

Peter Gunn
1958

Burke's Law
1963
as Bert Crowley

Matinee Theater
1955

The Lucy Show
1962
as Lieutenant Ruggles

I Dream of Jeannie
1965
as Suleiman

Studio One
1948
as Jeffers

Gunsmoke
1955
as Marshal Stoudenaire

Barnaby Jones
1973
as Phil Rooney

Marcus Welby, M.D.
1969
as Vince Darrell

The Name of the Game
1968
as Connie Hart

77 Sunset Strip
1958
as Baldy Mike Hannigan (uncredited)

Here's Lucy
1968
as Kermit Bosworth

Alfred Hitchcock Presents
1955
as George Bay

The Partridge Family
1970
as Max Pepper / Grandpa Walter Renfrew

McMillan & Wife
1971
as Howard Sparks

Hawaiian Eye
1959
as Mack Stanley

Family Affair
1966

The Addams Family
1964
as Uncle Fester

The Brady Bunch
1969

Lock-Up
1959

Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
1971
as Zigler

Police Story
1973

Shirley Temple's Storybook
1958
as Marshal Rogers

Alias Smith and Jones
1971

Outlaws
1960

The New Scooby-Doo Movies
1972
as Uncle Fester (voice)

The Outsider
1968
as Rusty

The Dick Powell Show
1961
as Shopkeeper

The Wonderful World of Disney
1954
as Mr. Klein

Mr. Lucky
1959
as Joe Azevedo

Movin' On
1974
Vacation Playhouse
1963
as Finnegan

Letter to Loretta
1953
as Woody Woods / Snuff Carter

Flying High
1978
$weepstake$
1979

The Addams Family
1973
as Uncle Fester (voice)

The Brian Keith Show
1972

Hollywood
1980
as Self

The Jimmy Stewart Show
1971

General Electric Theater
1953
as Marshal Stubb Snider

Cool Million
1972
as Merrill Cossack

Unknown Chaplin
1983
as Self

Cowboy G-Men
1952
McKeever and the Colonel
1962
as Sgt. Barnes

The New Andy Griffith Show
1971
Movies (88)

The Kid
1921
as The Kid

Buttons
1927
as Buttons
Hello, 'Frisco
1924
as Jackie Coogan

Little Robinson Crusoe
1924
as Mickey Hogan

The Actress
1953
as Inopportune (uncredited)
Forbidden Area
1956
as The Cook

Character Studies
1927
as Self (uncredited)

Girl Happy
1965
as Sgt. Benson

Marlowe
1969
as Grant W. Hicks

Kilroy Was Here
1947
as Pappy Collins

Cahill: United States Marshal
1973
as Charlie Smith

Human Experiments
1979
as Sheriff Tibbs

Sex Kittens Go to College
1960
as Wildcat MacPherson

The Kids Who Knew Too Much
1980
as Mr. Klein

The Real Charlie Chaplin
2021
as Self (archive footage)

Escape from Terror
1955
as Agent Petrov

Clown Alley
1966
as Clown

Peck's Bad Boy
1921
as Henry Peck

The Buster Keaton Story
1957
as Elmer Case

Where's Charley?
1957
as Coach Sanderford

The Proud Ones
1956
as Man on Make (uncredited)

The Prey
1983
as Lester Tile

The Escape Artist
1982
as Magic Shop Owner

The Space Children
1958
as Hank Johnson

Scooby-Doo Meets The Addams Family
1972
as Uncle Fester (Voice)

Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype
1980
as Sgt. Fleacollar

Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces
2000
as Self (archive footage)

Sunkist Stars at Palm Springs
1936
as Self

John Goldfarb, Please Come Home!
1965
as Father Ryan

The Joker is Wild
1957
as Swifty Morgan

A Fine Madness
1966
as Mr. Fitzgerald

The Shakiest Gun in the West
1968
as Matthew Basch

Skipalong Rosenbloom
1951
as Buck Lovelace

Hollywood’s Children
1982
as Self

Halloween with the New Addams Family
1977
as Uncle Fester

The Big Operator
1959
as Ed Brannell

Skinner's Baby
1917
as The Baby (uncredited)

Free and Easy
1930
as Jackie Coogan - at Premiere (uncredited)

High School Confidential!
1958
as Mr. A

Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood
1976
as Stagehand 1

Home on the Range
1935
as Jack Hatfield

The Phantom of Hollywood
1974
as Jonathan

French Leave
1948
as Pappy Reagan

The Star Wagon
1957
as Hanus Wicks

Rogue's Gallery
1968
as Funeral Director

Hollywood Scandals and Tragedies
1988
as (archive footage) (uncredited)

Lonelyhearts
1959
as Ned Gates

A Day's Pleasure
1919
as Smallest Boy (uncredited)

Eighteen and Anxious
1957
as Harold 'Eager' Beaver

College Swing
1938
as Jackie

Sherlock Holmes in New York
1976
as Haymarket Hotel Proprietor

The Beat Generation
1959
as Jake Baron

Million Dollar Legs
1939
as Russ Simpson

The Circus: Premiere
1928
as Self

Chaplin Today: The Kid
2003
as Self (archive footage)

Seeing Stars
1922
as Self

Night of the Quarter Moon
1959
as Desk Sergeant Bragan

Long Live the King
1923
as Crown Prince Ferdinand William Otto

Varieties on Parade
1951
as Himself

Outlaw Women
1952
as Piute Bill

Mesa of Lost Women
1953
as Dr Aranya

Nice and Friendly
1922
as Boy

The Specialists
1975
as Roger

Circus Days
1923
as Toby Tyler

The Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery
1975
as Detective Chief Anderson

When the Girls Take Over
1962
as Captain Toussaint

The Rag Man
1925
as Tim Kelly

The Legend of Rudolph Valentino
1961
as Self (archive footage)

Huckleberry Finn
1931
as Tom Sawyer

Tom Sawyer
1930
as Tom Sawyer

Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)
1942
as Self (archive footage)

Oliver Twist
1922
as Oliver Twist

When the West Was Fun: A Western Reunion
1979
as Self

Love in September
1936
as Jackie

No Place to Land
1958
as Swede

Jackie Coogan: The First Child Star
2015
as Self (archive footage)

A Boy of Flanders
1924
as Nello

My Boy
1921
as Jackie Blair

Estrellados
1930
as Self (Guest Appearance at Premiere)

Lucy Gets Lucky
1975
as Gus Mitchell

The Bugle Call
1927
as Billy Randolph

The Addams Family Album
1992
as Uncle Fester (archive footage)

Old Clothes
1925
as Timothy Kelly

Daddy
1923
as Jackie Savelli / Jackie Holden

Meet Jackie Coogan
1924
as Himself

Sky Patrol
1939
as Carter Meade

Johnny Get Your Hair Cut
1927
as Johnny O'Day

Trouble
1922
as Danny, the Kid
About 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… With 143 credits spanning from 1917 to 2021, Jackie Coogan has appeared in 88 films and 55 TV shows.
Fans searching for Jackie Coogan movies, Jackie Coogan filmography, or the latest projects starring Jackie Coogan can stream many of these titles on Bowood.TV, free and in HD, with no subscription required.
Most Popular Jackie Coogan Movies
- The Kid (1921) — as The Kid
- Buttons (1927) — as Buttons
- Hello, 'Frisco (1924) — as Jackie Coogan
- Little Robinson Crusoe (1924) — as Mickey Hogan
- The Actress (1953) — as Inopportune (uncredited)
Where to Watch Jackie Coogan Films
Most Jackie Coogan movies and series are available to stream on Bowood.TV in full HD, completely free and without signup. Browse the complete filmography above to jump directly to any title. For more films and the latest web series featuring Jackie Coogan, check our movies catalogue and browse page.