The son of a railroad clerk/pro boxer, Frank Coghlan Jr. was born in Connecticut and soon moved with his parents to California, where all three did extra work in silent pictures. Freckle-faced Coghlan was soon one of the era's most popular child actors, but with the advent of sound (and the onslaught of adolescence) he was reduced to smaller parts. After starring in the milestone serial Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941), Coghlan became a naval aviator in World War II. He later headed the Navy's motion picture cooperation program (and other similar programs), acting as liaison between the Navy and the Hollywood studios. When his 23-year active duty stint ended in 1965, he returned to acting in movies and on television (where he had a supporting part in the pilot of the "Captain Marvel"-like comedy series Mr. Terrific (1967)). He wrote his autobiography "because my kids just kept bugging me to do it", does the occasional TV commercial, and is a popular figure at movie conventions, where, to the amazement of the 80-ish "Junior", fans still line up to meet Captain Marvel's alter ego. Frank who was known as Junior Coghlan when a child actor and Frank Coghlan Jr in his teenage years had his first role at 3 as a ring bearer in a wedding scene in 'To Please One Woman'. He played extra parts for several years including in some of the 'Our Gang' comedies progressing into bit parts and supporting roles until he was signed by Cecil B de Mille in 1926. For 2 years he was in a series of comedies called 'Frollics of Youth with 4 year old Shirley Temple playing his young sister before she went on to stardom. He played the rival gang leader in several of the Dead End Kids then in 1939 he got the role of Billy Batson in the serial The Adventures of Captain Marvel.