Harry Cohn
Harry Cohn (July 23, 1891 – February 27, 1958) was a co-founder, president, and production director of Columbia Pictures Corporation.[1]
For the British politician, see Harry Cohen.
Harry Cohn
July 23, 1891
February 27, 1958 (aged 66)
Film producer and president of Columbia Pictures Corporation
1919–1958
Jack Cohn (brother)
Leonore Annenberg (niece)
Controversies[edit]
Sexual harassment allegations[edit]
Various accounts have claimed that Cohn asked for and expected sex from female stars in exchange for employment.[10][11] According to writer Joseph McBride, Jean Arthur quit the film industry when her Columbia Pictures' contract expired in 1944 because Cohn was known to harass actresses.[12] When Joan Crawford was subjected to Cohn's advances after signing a three-picture contract with Columbia, she quickly stopped him by saying "Keep it in your pants, Harry. I'm having lunch with Joan [his wife] and the boys [his children] tomorrow."[13]
Rita Hayworth's relationship with Cohn was fraught with aggravation. Her biography, If This Was Happiness, describes how Cohn was angered when she refused his demands to have sex with him. However, he kept her under contract because she made him money. During these Columbia years, each did their best to irritate the other despite their successful working relationship. Cohn tried to groom Mary Castle as Hayworth's successor.[14]
Accusations of mob connections[edit]
Cohn has been accused of having ties with organized crime. In 1957, mobsters threatened Sammy Davis Jr. with violence because the performer was involved with actress Kim Novak, who was under contract with Columbia Pictures. There are several accounts of what happened, but most agree that the organized crime figures that threatened Davis were close to Cohn; according to these accounts, as Novak was white, Cohn was worried a backlash against the interracial relationship would hurt the studio.[15] According to one account, Cohn called racketeer John Roselli, who was told to inform Davis that he must stop seeing Novak. To try to scare Davis, Roselli had him kidnapped for a few hours.[16] Another account relates that the threat was conveyed to Davis's father by mobster Mickey Cohen.[15] Davis was threatened with the loss of his other eye or a broken leg if he did not marry a black woman within two days. Davis in turn sought the protection of Chicago mobster Sam Giancana, who said that he could protect him in Chicago and Las Vegas but not California.[17][15][18]
Cohn was one of the influences (as well as Louis B. Mayer) for the character of studio boss Jack Woltz in the 1972 crime film The Godfather.[19]
Personal life[edit]
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.
His brothers all worked at Columbia. As well as co-founder Jack, the eldest brother Maxwell was a shorts subject producer and Nathan was the New York division manager.[20] Cohn's nephew, Ralph, one of Jack Cohn's three sons, founded Screen Gems.[21] Another of Jack's sons, Robert, was also a Columbia executive.[22] Maxwell's daughter was Leonore "Lee" Cohn Annenberg, the wife of billionaire publishing magnate Walter Annenberg of Philadelphia.
Death[edit]
Cohn had been suffering from an enlarged heart when hit by a heart attack while flying back from New York in December 1957. He was told to slow down.[1] In February 1958, he suffered another heart attack at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona, shortly after he had finished dinner. Cohn died in an ambulance en route to St. Joseph's Hospital.
Practically the entire Hollywood community attended Cohn's extravagant funeral on stage 12 at the Columbia studios [1] where Red Skelton made the famous (possibly apocryphal) quote: "It proves what Harry always said: Give the public what they want and they'll come out for it."[23] Cohn is interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood.
Media portrayal[edit]
Cohn was portrayed by Michael Lerner in the 1983 TV film Rita Hayworth: The Love Goddess Linal Haft in ‘’The Three Stooges’’ bio drama in 2000 and by Eric Roberts in the 2018 film Frank & Ava.[24][25]