Jackie Cooper Dies After Brief Illness

Jackie Cooper

Ron Galella/WireImage

Jackie Cooper, an Oscar-nominated child star who went on to play the gruff editor of The Daily Planet in four Superman movies, has died at age 88.

Cooper died Tuesday at a hospital in Beverly Hills after a brief illness. "He was a lovely man and I will miss him," his agent Ronnie Lief tells PEOPLE.

At the age of 9, Cooper became first child actor ever to be nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award, for his role in Skippy in 1931, and continued to thrive in show business as an adult.

Along with his film and TV acting credits ? which included turns on Murder, She Wrote and St. Elsewhere ? he also was an Emmy-winning TV director.

� Reporting by DAHVI SHIRA

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