Career Beginning and Key Role As Huck Finn
A native of Mattoon, Illinois, John E. Moran first attracted attention through the fine quality of his voice while singing in a church choir. He was seen by Mary Pickford who convinced his mother to take him to Hollywood for a screen test in 1935. Renamed Jackie Moran, the appealing youngster was subsequently cast in a number of substantial supporting roles, becoming, at the age of fourteen, a briefly popular adolescent star with the February 17, 1938 release of David O. Selznick's production The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The 93-minute big-budget Technicolor film was a top moneymaker, receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Art Direction. Playing Huckleberry Finn to Tommy Kelly's Tom Sawyer, Jackie Moran received critical praise for his natural acting style and was favorably compared to two earlier child star Jackies, the four-months-older Jackie Cooper and the eight-years-older Jackie Coogan (who seven years earlier starred as Tom (with Junior Durkin as Huck) in the December 1930 release Tom Sawyer and the August 1931 release Huckleberry Finn).
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