Motion Picture and TV Executive. Founder of Screen Gems. The son of Jack Cohn and nephew of Harry Cohn, co-founders of Columbia Pictures, he was born in New York City and entered the family business as a teenager. After proving he had the required Cohn toughness to survive in the industry, he was elevated to producer at the age of 21 and scored his first credit with "Panic on the Air" (1936). The films he turned out were B potboilers, among them the popular "Boston Blackie" and "Lone Wolf" mysteries. In 1949 Cohn made Columbia the first major Hollywood studio to venture into television by organizing the Screen Gems subsidiary to sell its old films (including the "Three Stooges" shorts) to the new medium, a pragmatic move that would keep the company financially solvent for over a decade. Screen Gems later expanded into TV production with such shows as "Father Knows Best", "Playhouse 90", "The Donna Reed Show", "Naked City", and the early cartoons of Hanna-Barbera. Following the deaths of his father and uncle in the late 1950s, Cohn was poised to take control of Columbia when he succumbed to a heart attack at 45. Although the Screen Gems name was dropped in 1974, the division continues to operate very successfully as Sony Pictures Television.
Motion Picture and TV Executive. Founder of Screen Gems. The son of Jack Cohn and nephew of Harry Cohn, co-founders of Columbia Pictures, he was born in New York City and entered the family business as a teenager. After proving he had the required Cohn toughness to survive in the industry, he was elevated to producer at the age of 21 and scored his first credit with "Panic on the Air" (1936). The films he turned out were B potboilers, among them the popular "Boston Blackie" and "Lone Wolf" mysteries. In 1949 Cohn made Columbia the first major Hollywood studio to venture into television by organizing the Screen Gems subsidiary to sell its old films (including the "Three Stooges" shorts) to the new medium, a pragmatic move that would keep the company financially solvent for over a decade. Screen Gems later expanded into TV production with such shows as "Father Knows Best", "Playhouse 90", "The Donna Reed Show", "Naked City", and the early cartoons of Hanna-Barbera. Following the deaths of his father and uncle in the late 1950s, Cohn was poised to take control of Columbia when he succumbed to a heart attack at 45. Although the Screen Gems name was dropped in 1974, the division continues to operate very successfully as Sony Pictures Television.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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