“Before there were stages we worked on raised platforms with cheesecloth overhead to diffuse the bright sunlight. The reason they built stages for silents was to get out of the wind.”

American actor and comedian

Jackie Coogan was an American actor and comedian who began his film career as a child performer in silent films. Born John Leslie Coogan, he became widely known for the title role in Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid (1921), which made him one of the first child stars in Hollywood. He is remembered mainly for that early breakthrough, when his screen presence helped define the appeal of child actors in the silent era. His name remains tied to the film that first made him famous, and to a career that started very young.