“Forgotten Hollywood”- Child Star Jackie Cooper has Died…

Posted on May 5, 2011 by raideoman1 | No Comments

Manny P. here..

Jackie_Cooper_in_Broadway_to_Hollywood_trailer   One of the first great child actors when talkies emerged has died. Jackie Cooper’s career spanned seven decades, but he’s best remembered for his incredibly gifted performances during the earliest years of Hollywood’s Golden Age.

   Cooper big break came from Hal Roach Studios when he was selected to become one of the members of the Our Gang comedy series. Acclaimed director Leo McCarey suggested the young actor be part of the troupe, and he was their first real star (before Spanky and Alfalfa).

   In 1931, he was loaned to Paramount to appear in Skippy. His cinematic performance was so riveting, at 9-years of age, he became the youngest nominee for a Best Actor in Oscar history. Roach promptly sold the tot’s contract to MGM, where he made a series of memorable movies including The Champ, The Bowery, and Treasure Island.

Jackie_Cooper_in_Gallant_Sons_trailer   Cast in small film roles after he served in the military during World War II, Cooper also starred in early television. He later turned to directing episodes of iconic shows as M*A*S*H and The White Shadow. He found a whole new audience when chosen as a replacement to an ailing Keenan Wynn as Perry White in the Superman movies that starred Christopher Reeve.

   Cooper announced his retirement in 1989, although he still directed installments of the syndicated cable series Superboy.  He occasionally engaged in first-hand stories on documentaries, and in retrospectives about Hollywood’s Studio Era.

   Jackie Cooper was 88.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 5th, 2011 at 12:25 am and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


Bookmark this post:
Digg Del.icio.us Reddit Furl Google Bookmarks StumbleUpon Windows Live Technorati Yahoo MyWeb



Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.