Today among movie buffs the name of Jackie Coogan would be remembered mainly for three things.


 His appearance in the Charlie Chaplin classic, The Kid, being instrumental in changing the law as regards child actors, and his appearance as Uncle Fester in, The Addams Family.


He was also married for a brief period to a Hollywood legend, Betty Grable.


They first met while both were on a break in Catalina Island. At the time Betty was an unknown while Jackie was a star and, supposedly, very rich. They felt a mutual attraction, got engaged in 1935, and married in 1937. The union was not popular with their respective mothers, but they went ahead anyway. Betty’s mother thought she was too young and making a mistake. Jackie’s mother was worried he would want his inheritance. As he had earned his fortune, thought to be the equivalent of four million dollars, at a young age the responsibility for looking after it fell to his parents. There were rumours at the time that Betty was just after his money.



During the marriage, Jackie’s star was on the wane while Betty was becoming a star. She was earning more and Jackie was forced to live off her earnings, a state of affairs with which Betty was not happy. She insisted that he go after his parents for his money as he was now of an age. He did this only to discover the heartbreaking truth. His parents had spent it. There was little in the kitty except Betty’s earnings and she became less happy. "She was solidly practical and ambitious, aware that you never get anything for nothing. Jackie believed that as a child star, he had earned his living for the rest of his life, and he wanted to have fun now,” wrote Photoplay. There was to be no fun as a great strain was put on their marriage. Two years after their wedding they divorced.


A good thing to come out of it, for other people, was that the law was changed to protect young stars keep their earnings.


Jackie would marry three more times and Betty once more. When Betty died in 1973 Jackie said he was heartbroken. Jackie died in 1984.

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