Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a little remembrance for one Mr. Jackie Cooper, who passed away yesterday at the age of 88.
Like most geeks my age, I first knew Cooper as Perry White in Donner’s Superman films. Due to Nick At Nite being so badass I was also very familiar with John Hamilton’s take on the character from the ‘50s TV show, but for me Cooper was the perfect fit for that role. He had that exact tough-as-nails Editor-In-Chief persona you’d expect, but there was a little twinkle in his eye, a slight bit of good-natured humanity that made him easy to like.
As I grew older I saw a lot more of his early work in the Our Gang shorts, but I must confess that I know very little of his professional work inbetween the two. I know that he had a rough transition from Our Gang to an acting career, spending most of the ‘50s and ‘60s in TV work, everything from Hawaii Five-O to Ironside to Kojak to The Twilight Zone.
The biggest deal was his own show called The People’s Choice, a comedy show in which he co-starred with a basset hound named Cleo. Cleo had an audible inner monologue that the makers of Married With Children might have ever so slightly lifted.
Besides being a child star and successful character actor Cooper was also a WW2 vet who served in the South Pacific campaign at the very tail end of the war and then went on to continue serving in the peacetime that followed.
He retired in 1989, noting that he was 67 and has worked 64 of those years in the business.
Cooper was a legend and will be missed. My thoughts are with Mr. Cooper’s friends, family and fans.
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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