About Jackie Cooper
Born 1922, Jackie Cooper appeared in
major studio movies at the age of three.
Tragically, his father had abandoned the family a year before, when Jackie was two,
forcing his mother to rely upon the boy's acting income to keep food on the table.
Shortly after earning his first featured part in Fox Movietone Follies of 1929.
Cooper was hired for producer Hal Roach's "Our Gang" two-reeler series, appearing in 15 shorts over the next two years.
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The "leading man" in many of these comedies, he was most effective in those scenes wherein he displayed a crush on his new teacher,
the beauteous Miss Crabtree. (Yikes!!!) On the strength of "Our Gang,"
Paramount Pictures signed Cooper for the title role in the feature film
"Skippy" released in 1931, which earned Jackie an Oscar nomination.
A contract with MGM followed, and for the next five years Cooper was
frequently co-starred with blustery character player Wallace Beery.
Jackie outgrew his preteen cuteness by the late 1930s, and was forced to accept
whatever work that came along, enjoying the occasional plum role in such
films as "The Return of Frank James," (1940), and "What a Life!"
(1941). His priorities rearranged by his wartime Naval service,
Cooper returned to the states determined to stop being a mere "personality"
and to truly learn to be an actor.
And thus the 50's television sitcom,
"The People's Choice and later, "Hennessey."
Cooper developed a taste for directing during this period (he would earn an Emmy for his directorial work on M*A*S*H in 1973), and also devoted much of his time in the 1960s to the production end of the business; in 1965 he was appointed vice-president in charge of production at Screen Gems, the TV subsidiary of Columbia Pictures. From the early 1970s onward, Cooper has juggled acting, producing and directing with equal aplomb. Modern audiences know Cooper best as the apoplectic Perry White in the Christopher_Reeve Superman films. In 1981, Cooper surprised (and sometimes shocked) his fans with a warts-and-all autobiography, "Please Don't Shoot My Dog
Awwww. We at Oldies Television would never shoot Cleo had she still been with us.
We'd adopt that lovable basset.
About Patricia Breslin Patricia Breslin was born ,
1925 (no exact birth date listed) in New York City, NY.
Patricia Breslin has appeared in movies, best known for "Andy Hardy Comes Home",
released in 1958, in which she portrayed Jane Hardy,
"Go, Man, Go!"(1954), and the Psycho-mimic, "Homicidal" released in early 1962.
Patricia was Jackie Cooper's eager bride-to-be in "The People's Choice," playing
Mandy Peoples with little press ballyhoo, newspaper critics didn't care for the sitcom.
Pat has made several commercials during the 60's and 70's.
About Cleo The Talking Dog Actually getting more laughs at times than her co-actors
on The People's Choice, the lovable basset hound is reticent about her career biography.
Nevertheless, those who remember the sitcom were enamored with the thespian pooch.
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