Junior Coghlan
actor (1916-2009)
Frank Coghlan Jr. (March 15, 1916 – September 7, 2009), also known as Junior Coghlan, was an American actor who later became a career officer in the United States Navy and a naval aviator. He appeared in approximately 129 films and television programs between 1920 and 1974.
During the 1920s and 1930s, he became a popular child and juvenile actor, appearing in films with Pola Negri, Jack Dempsey, William Haines, Shirley Temple, Mickey Rooney, William Boyd and Bette Davis. Although he appeared in early Our Gang comedies, he is best known for the role of Billy Batson in the 1941 motion picture serial and first comic book superhero film, Adventures of Captain Marvel.
Coghlan later served 23 years as an aviator and officer in the U.S. Navy, from 1942 to 1965. After retiring from the Navy, he returned to acting and appeared in television, films, and commercials. He published an autobiography in 1992 and died in 2009 at age 93.
Early life
Coghlan was born in New Haven, Connecticut, but his parents moved to Hollywood when he was still a baby. His father was a doctor, and in "Who's Who on the Screen" for 1932 he hoped to be a doctor, too, when he grew up.
The public source identifies “Junior Coghlan” as actor (1916-2009). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Junior, Coghlan and actor.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5485887. VIAF identifies the subject as 107056884. The Library of Congress control number is no89006303. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1916, 2009, 1920 and 1974.
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This entry incorporates text from “Junior Coghlan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.