Motion Picture Producer, Agent. Born in Teplice, in what is now the Czech Republic, he came to the United States with his family before World War I. Kohner joined Universal Studios as a writer in 1925 and was quickly promoted to producer, scoring a huge hit with the classic silent thriller "The Cat and the Canary" (1927). With the arrival of talkies, Kohner was put in charge of Universal's international co-productions and foreign-language versions of domestic films. At least two of them, "The White Hell of Pitz Palu" (1929), starring Leni Riefenstahl, and the Spanish-language version of "Dracula" (1931), have acquired cult status. In 1938, he founded the Paul Kohner Agency, representing directors and writers in Hollywood; John Huston, Billy Wilder, and Ingmar Bergman were among his clients. He was the husband of actress Lupita Tovar and the father of actress Susan Kohner. A sad chapter of Kohner's life was recently revealed by historian Scott McQueen. In the 1920s, he was engaged to Universal star Mary Philbin, but Philbin's parents forced her to break off the relationship because they were Irish Catholics and Kohner was Jewish. They apparently never got over each other. After Kohner's death, workers cleaning out his office discovered a batch of Philbin's old love letters to him, within easy reach in his desk drawer. Philbin herself never married, and died alone and forgotten in 1993.
Motion Picture Producer, Agent. Born in Teplice, in what is now the Czech Republic, he came to the United States with his family before World War I. Kohner joined Universal Studios as a writer in 1925 and was quickly promoted to producer, scoring a huge hit with the classic silent thriller "The Cat and the Canary" (1927). With the arrival of talkies, Kohner was put in charge of Universal's international co-productions and foreign-language versions of domestic films. At least two of them, "The White Hell of Pitz Palu" (1929), starring Leni Riefenstahl, and the Spanish-language version of "Dracula" (1931), have acquired cult status. In 1938, he founded the Paul Kohner Agency, representing directors and writers in Hollywood; John Huston, Billy Wilder, and Ingmar Bergman were among his clients. He was the husband of actress Lupita Tovar and the father of actress Susan Kohner. A sad chapter of Kohner's life was recently revealed by historian Scott McQueen. In the 1920s, he was engaged to Universal star Mary Philbin, but Philbin's parents forced her to break off the relationship because they were Irish Catholics and Kohner was Jewish. They apparently never got over each other. After Kohner's death, workers cleaning out his office discovered a batch of Philbin's old love letters to him, within easy reach in his desk drawer. Philbin herself never married, and died alone and forgotten in 1993.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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