Born John Cooperman, Jr., in Los Angeles, CA. As a pugnosed blond with pouting mouth and the ability to shed tears in buckets, Jackie Cooper was one of Hollywood's top child stars in the 1930s. He broke into movies as a tiny player in comedy shorts, appearing in 15 "Our Gang" episodes between 1929 and 1931. His uncle, director Norman Taurog, put Cooper into the title role of SKIPPY (1931), a successful film based on a popular comic strip, which earned the youngster a Best Actor Oscar nomination, making him the youngest actor to receive that honor, a record he still holds. In fact, until 2004 he was the only actor, male or female, to earn a Best Actor or Best Actress nomination for an Academy Award before their 18th birthday. More than a dozen other actors have earned Oscar nominations as children, but -- until Keisha Castle-Hughes' Best Actress nomination for 2003 -- all were in the supporting categories. SKIPPY catapulted Cooper into the upper echelons of MGM's star roster. (When he refused to do a crying scene on the set of SKIPPY, Taurog threatened to shoot his dog.) Cooper appeared opposite blustery Wallace Beery in THE CHAMP (1931), THE BOWERY (1933), TREASURE ISLAND (1934), and O'SHAUGNESSEY'S BOYS (1935), and copped star billing in SOOKY (also 1931), WHEN A FELLER NEEDS A FRIEND (1932), and PECK'S BAD BOY (1934), among others. Like most child stars, Cooper found his popularity waning as he reached adolescence, and weathered a turbulent period in his personal life while looking for a new direction in his professional life. Cooper played Dead End-like tough kids in THE DEVIL IS A SISSY (1936) for Metro and BOY OF THE STREETS (1937) for Monogram, where he starred in several other, less gritty dramas, including GANGSTER'S BOY (1938) and STREETS OF NEW YORK (1939). He starred in a serial, 1939's "Scouts to the Rescue" and played the screen's first Henry Aldrich in WHAT A LIFE! that same year. Straight dramatic roles in THE RETURN OF FRANK JAMES (1940) and ZIEGFELD GIRL (1941), among others, gave him an opportunity to demonstrate his not inconsiderable acting ability, but World War II intervened and he went into the service, where he served as an officer in the US Navy. Upon leaving he found movie roles few and far between; STORK BITES MAN, KILROY WAS HERE (both 1947), and FRENCH LEAVE (1948), execrable lowbudgeters, convinced him to get out of Hollywood for a while.

He toured with stock companies for years, and even landed on Broadway, before launching a second successful career, this time on TV. He worked in live television, starred in two popular filmed series, "The People's Choice" (1955-58) and "Hennesey" (1959-62), and eventually focused his talents behind the camera as a director and producer. (At one point he was the executive in charge of production for Screen Gems, the Columbia TV subsidiary.) Cooper helmed the feature film STAND UP AND BE COUNTED (1972) in addition to dozens of TV series episodes and telefilms (including 1978's "Rainbow" a bio- pic of his good friend Judy Garland). He won Emmys for directing episodes of "M*A*S*H" and "The White Shadow." He still found time to act, appearing in many TV guest spots and playing "Daily Planet" editor Perry White in the SUPERMAN movies starring Christopher Reeve (1978, 1981, 1983, and 1987); he also appeared in SURRENDER (1987). His autobiography, Please Don't Shoot My Dog, was published in 1981. No less an authority than Roddy McDowall, himself an "exmoppet," cited Cooper as the most gifted child star in movie history.    Nominated for Actor 1930-31: SKIPPY 1 nomination