#15: How a Director’s Threat Affected a Young Actor

To get a heartbreaking performance from child star Jackie Cooper in Skippy, director Norman Taurog resorted to a shocking tactic—threatening to harm the boy’s beloved dog. The distress was real, and so were the tears, pushing Cooper to deliver an emotionally raw scene that was almost too intense.

His anguish earned him an Oscar nomination at just nine years old, but at what cost? While the film industry praised his performance, the method behind it remains deeply unsettling, raising serious ethical concerns about the emotional manipulation of child actors in Hollywood.