Whatever Happened to ‘Addams Family’ Star Jackie Coogan?
Jackie Coogan had an interesting career, beginning his journey as a beloved child star and eventually becoming Uncle Fester in The Addams Family. Born on October 26, 1914, he was discovered by comedy legend Charlie Chaplin at a vaudeville show and was propelled into instant stardom when Chaplin cast the adorable seven-year-old in the title role of The Kid in 1921. Coogan’s heartbreaking performance made him one of Hollywood’s first major child stars. By the 1920s, he had reportedly earned millions of dollars from his film work, an unheard-of fortune for a child at the time.
However, things turned dark in 1933, when his close friend Brooke Hart was kidnapped and murdered. Reports say that Coogan joined the enraged crowd that formed and was present when a mob lynched Hart’s kidnappers in an act of vigilante justice.
The following year brought more heartbreak. In May 1935, 20-year-old Coogan survived a horrific car accident in which his father, his best friend, and two other passengers were killed.
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Just months later, after Coogan turned 21 and prepared to access his childhood earnings, he discovered that around $4 million was virtually gone. His mother, Lillian, had married Coogan’s business manager, Arthur Bernstein, and together they had spent nearly all of Coogan’s fortune.
In 1938, he sued his mother and stepfather in a highly publicized legal battle to reclaim a portion of his earnings — a case that would go on to change history for child stars. After legal fees, he recovered only $126,000 of the roughly $250,000 remaining in his accounts, a fraction of the fortune he had earned as a child. During the litigation, Chaplin stepped in to support his former co-star, gifting Coogan $1,000 in cash to help him through the proceedings.
In 1939, California passed the Child Actors Bill, widely known as the Coogan Law, in direct response to his case. This landmark law required a percentage of a child actor’s earnings to be placed in a protected trust and set new safeguards for young performers.
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Coogan began looking for a new purpose, and he enlisted in the U.S. Army in March 1941, shortly before America entered World War II. Drawing on his civilian flying experience, Coogan volunteered as a glider pilot with the Army Air Forces, a perilous role that involved flying unpowered aircraft into combat zones. He joined the elite 1st Air Commando Group and, in March 1944, piloted gliders carrying British troops, the Chindits, deep behind Japanese lines in Burma.
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After the war, Coogan returned to show business, though transitioning to adult roles was not easy. He worked in various small film and TV parts through the 1950s, steadily rebuilding his career. In 1964, he landed the role of Uncle Fester in the ABC television series The Addams Family and made himself a household name for a second time. The comedic role revitalized his career, and Coogan continued acting into the 1970s, including reprising Uncle Fester in later Addams Family specials.
After decades in the spotlight, Coogan faced health issues in his later years. He suffered from heart and kidney ailments and had a history of hypertension and strokes. On March 1, 1984, Coogan died of heart failure in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 69. The public was invited to his funeral, where former co-stars such as Addams Family castmate John Astin delivered eulogies.
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