SHAZAM! Captain Marvel Star Frank Coghlan Dies At 93

SHAZAM! Captain Marvel Star Frank Coghlan Dies At 93

Frank Coghlan Jr., a freckle-faced child actor of silent movies,thrilled Saturday matinee audiences by shouting "Shazam!" before his character transformed into the superhero Captain Marvel.

By MarvelWeiner - Oct 05, 2009 02:10 PM EST
Filed Under: Shazam
Source: Denverpost.com



He was 93, and he died of natural causes, according to his son Patrick.

Junior Coghlan, as he was usually billed, did not actually become Captain Marvel in the 12-part serial "Adventures of Captain Marvel," which Republic Pictures released in 1941. He played Billy Batson, the boy who meets a shaman in Siam that teaches him to transform into the superhero.

It was Tom Tyler who emerged as Captain Marvel, after Billy's "Shazam!" moment with a giant flash and a billow of white smoke. Coghlan was 25 at the time, but his youthful looks and rather high-pitched voice allowed him to play the younger character.

Billy the boy and Captain Marvel, in a tight red costume with a yellow lightning bolt on his chest, would morph back and forth during the 15 to 20 minute long episodes.



"It's considered by many aficionados as the best cliffhanger serial of all time," said Bruce Goldstein, director of repertory programming at Film Forum, a movie house in the South Village. "What a great fantasy for kids: a kid who turns into a superhero."

Junior Coghlan had already made his name in movies when he was a child. Starting at 3 as a crawl-on in a Western serial called "Daredevil Jack," he had been an extra, played bit parts or had significant roles in more than two dozen silent movies.

In 1925 director Cecil B. DeMille signed little Frank to a five year contract. In one of his first talkies, Coghlan played James Cagney's hoodlum as a boy in "The Public Enemy" (1931) depicting a criminal's rise in the Prohibition era.

Coghlan served as a naval aviator in World War II. He later headed the Navy's motion picture cooperation program acting as a liaison with Hollywood studios. After 23 years in the Navy, he returned to acting in bit parts in movies, on television, and in commercials.

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loganoneil
loganoneil - 10/5/2009, 3:03 PM
RIP Frank, you will be missed....

SHAZAM!!!!!
LEEE777
LEEE777 - 10/5/2009, 3:18 PM
Logan @ That's real cool an fitting you got to comment first being the biggest CAP MARVEL fan on here! ; )

Ive never seen the old SHAZAM! Serial but id like too, R.I.P Frank.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 10/5/2009, 6:08 PM
i never even knew there was an old Captain Marvel show, thats pretty cool. Captain Marvel (and black adam of course), flash, GL, and batman are the only good DC characters...in my opinion anyway
superdog
superdog - 10/5/2009, 6:10 PM
Shazam in piece my friend........shazam in piece.
StrangerX
StrangerX - 10/5/2009, 6:13 PM
R I P
bsprecher
bsprecher - 10/5/2009, 6:40 PM
Off to that great "Rock or Eternity" in the sky...RIP, magic man!
DDD
DDD - 10/5/2009, 7:09 PM
He sure lived a long and storied life! RIP Frank! Shazam fer sure!
InTylerWeTrust
InTylerWeTrust - 10/5/2009, 7:40 PM
RIP man. Truly an unfortunate few months in Hollywood :(
thwhtGuardian
thwhtGuardian - 10/5/2009, 7:57 PM
wow this has been a bad couple of weeks for super heroes
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 10/5/2009, 8:16 PM
@ anil

lol, luke wilson as captain marvel???
superdog
superdog - 10/5/2009, 8:25 PM
Luke Wilson for no comicbook hero EVER!!!!!!
InTylerWeTrust
InTylerWeTrust - 10/5/2009, 8:31 PM
I'd say my first choice for CM would be Brendan Fraser. I know this won't be a popular choice, but he has the height, build, look, and talent (IMO) to pull the role off. Him or Owain something something from the Mentalist and the Sarah Connor Chronicles. My second choice would be Dwayne Johnson.

Luke Wilson? Pure LOL's.
Betty
Betty - 10/5/2009, 8:36 PM
Don't they say it happens in threes. So that should be the end of it for now. RIP fa Shizzle! I mean Shazam.
SkunkApe1
SkunkApe1 - 10/6/2009, 3:07 AM
Classic photo's from what many consider the greatest time in America.
THULK
THULK - 10/6/2009, 9:15 AM
I never knew that there was a way older Cap back in the day. You will be missed greatly. My prays goes out to his family. This is why they need to have a SHAZAM movie done because not everyone knew what history is behind the heroes. Cap is my favorite DC hero besides Batman and I'm a Marvel man! HULK SMASH!!!!!!!
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 10/6/2009, 9:38 AM
@ tyler

i would rather see the rock play black adam than captain marvel
stopdropandroll
stopdropandroll - 10/6/2009, 8:36 PM
RIP Frank Coghlan

I caught an episode years ago. The bad guys were firing a .50 Caliber machine gun at him. The bullets bounced off of course. Captain Marvel grabbed the gun, spun it around and shot all the bad guys with the machine gun at close range.

I guess superheroes didn't like to take prisoners back then.
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