Harry Cohn

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Harry Cohn
Born July 23, 1891(1891-07-23)
New York City, New York
Died February 27, 1958 (aged 66)
Los Angeles, California
Spouse(s) Rose Barker
(1923-1941)
Joan Perry
(1941-1958)

Harry Cohn (July 23, 1891 – February 27, 1958), sometimes nicknamed King Cohn, was president and production director of Columbia Pictures.

Contents

[edit] Career

Cohn was born to a working-class German-Jewish family in New York City[1]. In later years, he appears to have disparaged his heritage. After working for a time as a streetcar conductor, and then as a promoter for a sheet music printer, he got a job with Universal Pictures, where his brother, Jack Cohn, was already employed. In 1924, Cohn joined with his brother and Joe Brandt to found CBC Film Sales Corporation, later renamed Columbia. Harry Cohn managed the company's film production in Hollywood, while his brother managed its finances from New York. The relationship between the two brothers was not always good, and Brandt, finding the partnership stressful, eventually sold his third of the company to Harry Cohn.

Under Cohn, Columbia Pictures was quite successful — initially, it produced mainly B-movies, but later, directors such as Frank Capra and stars such as Jean Arthur, the Three Stooges, Rita Hayworth, William Holden, and Kim Novak gave it credibility. It is said in the industry that while Harry Cohn ruled Columbia Pictures, the studio never ended a production year in the red.

Cohn was known for his autocratic and intimidating management style. An employee of Columbia called him "as absolute a monarch as Hollywood ever knew", and described him as running his studio "like a private police state". It was said "he had listening devices on all sound stages and could tune in any conversation on the set, then boom in over a loudspeaker if he heard anything that displeased him". There is some suggestion that Cohn deliberately cultivated his reputation as a tyrant, either to maximally motivate his employees or simply because it increased his control of the studio. Cohn is said to have kept a signed photograph of Benito Mussolini, whom he met in Italy in 1933, on his desk until the beginning of World War II. (Columbia produced the documentary Mussolini Speaks in 1933, narrated by Lowell Thomas.) Cohn also had a number of ties to the Mafia — he had a long-standing friendship with the John Roselli, and mob boss Abner Zwillman was the source of the loan that allowed Cohn to buy out his partner Brandt. Other claims made about Cohn include the rumor that he demanded sex from female stars in exchange for employment, although similar stories were connected to many producers in Hollywood at the time. Lucille Ball regarded Cohn as her nemesis and vice versa.

For the 1934 film It Happened One Night, Frank Capra was unable to get any of the actresses he wanted for the part of Ellie Andrews.[2] Cohn suggested Claudette Colbert to play the lead role.[3]

Harry Cohn's relationship with Rita Hayworth was also fraught with aggravation. In Hayworth's biography If This Was Happiness, she described how she refused to sleep with Cohn and how this angered him. However, because Hayworth was such a valuable property Cohn kept her on, making money. For the years they worked together, each did their best to irritate the other despite their lengthy work relationship, which produced good results.

Cohn was married to Rose Barker from 1923 to 1941, and to actress Joan Perry (1911-1996) from July 1941 until his death in 1958. Perry later married actor Laurence Harvey. His niece is Leonore "Lee" Cohn Annenberg the widow of Walter Annenberg of Philadelphia. Her father was Maxwell Cohn the brother of Harry and Jack Cohn.

[edit] Death

Cohn died of a sudden heart attack in February 1958 in Phoenix, AZ. He was the subject of the famous quote from Red Skelton, who remarked of his well-attended funeral, "It proves what Harry always said: give the public what they want and they'll come out for it." [4] Just before the funeral at Wilshire Boulevard Temple, the presiding rabbi was asked to find one good thing to say about Cohn. The rabbi thought long and hard, and said, "He's dead." Gossip columnist Hedda Hopper added, "You had to stand in line to hate him." Harry Cohn was interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California.

He holds the dubious honor of having a young Marilyn Monroe in his star stable in 1948 when she co-starred in Ladies of the Chorus and believing that she would not amount to much, did not renew her six month contract.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Actors Directors from Germany, Austria, Switzerland - German-Hollywood Connection
  2. ^ moviediva ItHappenedOneNight
  3. ^ Chronicle of the Cinema, 100 Years of the Movies. London: Dorling Kindersley, 1995, p. 252. ISBN 0-7513-3001-9.
  4. ^ Red Skelton Quotes - Famous Quotes by Red Skelton from Basic Quotations - Famous Quotes by Famous People - Famous Quotations - Famous Sayings

[edit] External links


Persondata
NAME Cohn, Harry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES King Cohn
SHORT DESCRIPTION president and production director of Columbia Pictures
DATE OF BIRTH July 23, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH February 27, 1958
PLACE OF DEATH