Became very close friends with child star
Jackie Coogan throughout most his film career. The tragic car accident that killed Coogan's father,
Jack Coogan Sr., as well as Junior, indirectly led to a court trial that resulted in the Coogan Law. This California law would put away 15% of a child actor's earnings as opposed to being entirely the parent's property. Following his father's death, young Coogan's mother married his stepfather (also his manager). They squandered the boy's millions and the boy was forced to sue them. In 2000, the state ruled that all earnings belonged to the child and the parents had no claim whosoever.