Who is Larry Cohen? Salary, Measurements, Relationship, Wedding

Known for movies

Short Info

Spouse	Janelle Webb, Cynthia Costas
Mark	A scene shot at his house in Beverly Hills
Fact	Father, with Janelle Webb, of Jill Gatsby and Melissa Inger.
Payments	Earned $750,000 from Cellular (2004)

Larry Cohen (born July 15, 1941) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his work in the horror and exploitation genres, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s.

Cohen was born in New York City, the son of a Jewish family. His father was a businessman and his mother was a homemaker. He has two sisters. Cohen’s early education took place at the Yeshiva of Flatbush. He later attended the High School of Music & Art, where he developed an interest in film.

Cohen began his career in the entertainment industry as a television writer, penning episodes of such shows as The Defenders, The Fugitive, and The Invaders. He made his directorial debut with the 1968 film Bone, which starred Yaphet Kotto. Cohen would go on to direct a number of exploitation films throughout the 1970s and 1980s, including Black Caesar (1973), It’s Alive (1974), and The Stuff (1985). He also wrote and directed the 1984 film The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover.

In recent years, Cohen has directed episodes of such television shows as NYPD Blue and The Guardian. He has also been active as a producer, working on such films as Phone Booth (2002) and Cellular (2004).

Cohen’s net worth is estimated to be $10 million. He has been married three times and has four children.

General Info

Full Name	Larry Cohen
Profession	Film director, Film producer, Screenwriter, Television Director, Television producer
Education	City College of New York
Nationality	American

Family

Spouse	Janelle Webb, Cynthia Costas
Children	Jill Gatsby, Melissa Cohen, Bobby Cohen, Louis Cohen, Pam Cohen
Siblings	Ronni Chasen

Accomplishments

Nominations	Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay, Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Comedy
Movies	It's Alive, The Stuff, Q, God Told Me To, Phone Booth, Black Caesar, Maniac Cop, A Return to Salem's Lot, The Ambulance, It Lives Again, Hell Up in Harlem, Cellular, The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover, It's Alive III: Island of the Alive, Maniac Cop 2, Original Gangstas, Wicked Stepmother, Special...
TV Shows	Cool Million, The Good Life, The Invaders, Coronet Blue, Blue Light, Branded

Social profile links

Facebook	http://www.facebook.com/bridgelarrycohen
IMDB	http://imdb.com/name/nm0169540

Marks

#	Marks / Signs
1	A scene shot at his house in Beverly Hills

Salary

Title	Salary
Cellular (2004)	$750,000

Quotes

#	Quote
1	Some kids were great playing baseball; other kids were great at playing the piano; some kids were terrific at math. Writing was just something that came naturally.
2	[on how he came up with the idea of the aliens' signature extended pinky finger on his series The Invaders (1967)] The extended pinky used to be a symbol of effeminacy . . . you know, the effete [person] holding a glass of champagne with the pinky extended? When this show was done back in the '60s, the homosexual community was kind of a submerged, invisible community. People were living secret lives. I thought, here are these aliens living amongst society, keeping their true identities secret, their true selves secret, and this is funny because the pinky kind of symbolizes homosexuality in some way, and nobody will get the gag, but I'll put it in there anyway.
3	Sometimes the scenes that really make a movie work are the little scenes that have nothing to do with advancing the action, but just add a little something.
4	Life has been good to me. I keep making pictures. Every year I make something. As long as I keep working, I have nothing to complain about. And the films I've made have all had some point to them. Otherwise, I wouldn't have felt they were worth doing. You have to have some direction in which you're headed and a destination which you have to arrive at by the end of the film, so that you feel it was a satisfactory trip. Some kind of personal statement has to be made.

Facts

#	Fact
1	Lives in a house in Coldwater Canyon, a secluded area north of Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood. The house was built by William Randolph Hearst in 1929. [February 2004]
2	Older brother of publicist Ronni Chasen.
3	Not often allowed to run the TV series that he created. He was removed from creative control of Branded (1965) after one year and was never involved with The Invaders (1967) once he had turned over his outline for the first year.
4	Has said that if he had been allowed to run The Invaders (1967), he would have given David Vincent 1) more of a sense of humor, 2) fewer aliens to fight and made them harder to kill, and 3) more of an on-going team of "Believers" in the second year to help him fight the aliens.
5	Drew comics and made 8mm movies with his friends as a kid.
6	Sold two teleplays to Kraft Mystery Theater (1959) when he was only 22 years old.
7	Worked as a page at NBC.
8	Was the creator of the 1967 TV series Coronet Blue (1967), which was an offshoot of his work on the TV series The Defenders (1961). Cohen wrote in his autobiography, "The Radical Allegories of an Independent Filmmaker," why the mystery behind the short-lived series' title/catch-phrase was never solved, and what it actually meant. "When the Brodkin Organization took over the series, they wanted to turn it into an anthology...so they played down the amnesia aspect until there was nothing about it at all in the show. It was just Frank Converse wandering from one story to the next with no connective format at all. Anyway, the show ended after seventeen weeks and nobody found out what 'coronet blue' meant. The actual secret is that Converse was not really an American at all. He was a Russian who had been trained to appear like an American and was sent to the US as a spy. He belonged to a spy unit called Coronet Blue. He decided to defect, so the Russians tried to kill him before he could give away the identities of the other Soviet agents. And nobody can really identify him because he doesn't exist as an American. Coronet Blue was actually an outgrowth of the episode called 'The Traitor' of 'The Defenders.'"
9	Father, with Janelle Webb, of Jill Gatsby and Melissa Inger.
10	Does not use a computer or typewriter to write. Dictates his scripts into a hand-held tape recorder.
11	His wife, Cynthia Costas Cohen, is a psychotherapist and sculptor.
12	His younger sister, Ronni Chasen, is a well-known Hollywood publicist.
13	Sold the spec script thriller Captivity (2007). This is his fifth spec script thriller in the last five years. Phone Booth (2002) was sold in December 1998 in the mid-six figures. "Cast of Characters" for $350,000 and Cellular (2004) for $750,000 were both sold in 1999. "Man Alive" was sold in August 2002 for a mid-six-figure amount. [June 2003]
14	Directed Hell Up in Harlem (1973) and It's Alive (1974) simultaneously, working on "It's Alive!" from Monday to Friday and "Hell Up in Harlem" at the weekends.
15	Fred Williamson was shooting That Man Bolt (1973) in Los Angeles at the same time as Hell Up in Harlem (1973) which was in production in New York, so a double was used for most of the Tommy Gibbs character's New York close-ups. According to Cohen, Williamson did not like the double's physical appearance, remarking that "his butt was too big."
16	Educated at the City College of New York and New York University.

Movies

Writer

Title	Year	Status
Blade Rider, Revenge of the Indian Nations	1966
I Deal in Danger	1966
The Rat Patrol	1966	TV Series written by - 1 episode
Return of the Magnificent Seven	1966	written by
Blue Light		TV Series creator - 17 episodes, 1966 writer - 7 episodes, 1966 story - 3 episodes, 1966
Branded		TV Series creator - 48 episodes, 1965 - 1966 story - 7 episodes, 1965 teleplay - 3 episodes, 1965
Kraft Suspense Theatre		TV Series story - 1 episode, 1965 teleplay - 1 episode, 1965
The Defenders	1963-1965	TV Series written by - 9 episodes
The Fugitive		TV Series story - 1 episode, 1965 written by - 1 episode, 1964
Espionage	1964	TV Series writer - 1 episode
The Doctors and the Nurses	1963	TV Series writer - 3 episodes
Arrest and Trial	1963	TV Series writer - 1 episode
Sam Benedict	1963	TV Series writer - 1 episode
Checkmate	1961	TV Series written by - 1 episode
Surfside 6	1961	TV Series story - 1 episode
The United States Steel Hour	1961	TV Series writer - 1 episode
'Way Out	1961	TV Series writer - 1 episode
The Witness	1961	TV Series written by - 1 episode
Zane Grey Theater	1960	TV Series writer - 1 episode
Kraft Theatre		TV Series written by - 1 episode, 1958 adaptation - 1 episode, 1958
Messages Deleted	2010	written by
The Gambler, the Girl and the Gunslinger	2009	TV Movie written by
It's Alive	2008	1974 screenplay / screenplay
Maniac Cop	2008	Short based on characters created by
Bo chi tung wah	2008	original story
Captivity	2007	screenplay / story
Cellular	2004	story
Phone Booth	2002	written by
Misbegotten	1998	screenplay
The Defenders: Choice of Evils	1998	TV Movie story / teleplay
The Ex	1997	screenplay
Ed McBain's 87th Precinct: Heatwave	1997	TV Movie teleplay
Invasion of Privacy	1996	written by
Ed McBain's 87th Precinct: Ice	1996	TV Movie teleplay
Uncle Sam	1996	Video written by
The Invaders	1995	TV Series television series - 2 episodes
As Good as Dead	1995	TV Movie written by
The Expert	1995	uncredited
NYPD Blue	1995	TV Series written by - 1 episode
Guilty as Sin	1993	written by
Body Snatchers	1993	screen story
Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence	1993	characters / written by
Maniac Cop 2	1990	characters - uncredited / written by
The Ambulance	1990	written by
Wicked Stepmother	1989	written by
Desperado: Avalanche at Devil's Ridge	1988	TV Movie
Maniac Cop	1988	written by
Deadly Illusion	1987
Best Seller	1987	written by
A Return to Salem's Lot	1987	screenplay / story
It's Alive III: Island of the Alive	1987	based on characters created by / written by
The Stuff	1985	written by
Special Effects	1984	written by
Perfect Strangers	1984
Scandalous	1984	story
Women of San Quentin	1983	TV Movie story
Q	1982	writer
I, the Jury	1982	screenplay
Full Moon High	1981	written by
See China and Die	1981	TV Movie
The American Success Company	1980	screenplay / story
Sparrow	1978	TV Movie creator
It Lives Again	1978	based on characters created for the screen by / written by
The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover	1977	written by
Calling Doctor Storm, M. D.	1977	TV Movie
God Told Me To	1976	original screenplay
Man on the Outside	1975	TV Movie writer
Posse	1975	treatment - uncredited
Columbo	1973-1974	TV Series story by - 3 episodes
It's Alive	1974	written by
Shootout in a One-Dog Town	1974	TV Movie story
Hell Up in Harlem	1973	written by
Griff	1973	TV Series creator
Black Caesar	1973	written by
Cool Million		TV Series created by - 1 episode, 1972 writer - 1 episode, 1972
Bone	1972
Call Holme	1972	TV Movie creator
In Broad Daylight	1971	TV Movie
El Condor	1970	screenplay
Scream Baby Scream	1969	screenplay - as Laurence Robert Cohen / story - as Laurence Robert Cohen
Daddy's Gone A-Hunting	1969	screenplay / story
The Legend of Custer	1968	suggested by
The Invaders	1967-1968	TV Series creator - 43 episodes
Coronet Blue	1967	TV Series creator - 13 episodes
Custer		TV Series series suggested - 14 episodes, 1967 series suggested by - 3 episodes, 1967

Director

Title	Year	Status
Masters of Horror	2006	TV Series 1 episode
Original Gangstas	1996
As Good as Dead	1995	TV Movie
The Ambulance	1990
Wicked Stepmother	1989
Deadly Illusion	1987
A Return to Salem's Lot	1987
It's Alive III: Island of the Alive	1987
The Stuff	1985
Special Effects	1984
Perfect Strangers	1984
Q	1982
Full Moon High	1981
See China and Die	1981	TV Movie
It Lives Again	1978
The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover	1977
God Told Me To	1976
It's Alive	1974
Hell Up in Harlem	1973
Black Caesar	1973
Bone	1972

Producer

Title	Year	Status
As Good as Dead	1995	TV Movie producer
Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence	1993	co-producer
Maniac Cop 2	1990	producer
Wicked Stepmother	1989	executive producer
Maniac Cop	1988	producer
A Return to Salem's Lot	1987	executive producer
It's Alive III: Island of the Alive	1987	executive producer
The Stuff	1985	executive producer
Q	1982	producer
Full Moon High	1981	producer
See China and Die	1981	TV Movie producer
It Lives Again	1978	producer
The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover	1977	producer
God Told Me To	1976	producer
It's Alive	1974	producer
Hell Up in Harlem	1973	producer
Black Caesar	1973	producer
Bone	1972	producer
Never Too Young	1965	TV Series executive producer
Branded	1965	TV Series producer

Miscellaneous

Title	Year	Status	Character
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore	1974	production executive
Blue Light		TV Series executive script consultant - 17 episodes, 1966 executive story consultant - 1 episode, 1966

Actor

Title	Year	Status	Character
Spies Like Us	1985		Ace Tomato Agent

Thanks

Title	Year	Status
Syndicate Smasher	2017	special thanks post-production
Dorfman in Love	2011	thanks
The Scared of Death Society	2010	special thanks
Eating Out	2004/I	special thanks

Self

Title	Year	Status	Character
King Cohen: The Wild World of Filmmaker Larry Cohen		Documentary post-production	Himself
Unsung Hollywood	2016	TV Series documentary	Himself
42nd Street Memories: The Rise and Fall of America's Most Notorious Street	2015	Documentary	Himself
Interview with Director Larry Cohen: Confessions of a Low Budget Maverick	2014	Short	Himself
Dark Dreamers	2011	TV Series	Himself
Scripting a New Slasher Super-Villain: Larry Cohen on Matt Cordell	2011	Video documentary short	Himself
This Week in Horror	2011	TV Series	Himself - Guest
God Told Me to Bone: An Evening with Larry Cohen	2010	Video documentary short	Himself
More Tales from the Script	2010	Video documentary	Himself
American Grindhouse	2010	Documentary	Himself - Director, Black Caeser
Nightmares in Red, White and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film	2009	Documentary	Himself
Tales from the Script	2009	Documentary	Himself
Trailers from Hell	2007	TV Series	Himself
The Maltese Falcon: One Magnificent Bird	2006	Video documentary short	Himself
Stool Pigeons and Pine Overcoats: The Language of Gangster Films	2006	Video documentary short
Welcome to the Big House	2006	Video documentary short
Hitchcocked!	2006	TV Movie documentary	Himself
Molls and Dolls: The Women of Gangster Films	2006	Video documentary short	Himself
Shooting the Police: Cops on Film	2006	TV Movie documentary	Himself
Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That	2005	TV Movie documentary	Himself - interviewee
Make Your Own Damn Movie!	2005	Video documentary	Himself
Dialing Up 'Cellular'	2004	Video documentary short	Himself
Macked, Hammered, Slaughtered and Shafted	2004	Documentary	Himself
Celling Out	2004	Video documentary short	Himself
The 100 Scariest Movie Moments	2004	TV Mini-Series documentary	Himself
Baadasssss Cinema	2002	TV Movie documentary	Himself
Les deniers du culte	1997	TV Movie documentary	Himself
Fantasy Film Festival	1979	TV Series	Himself

Awards

Won Awards

Year	Award	Ceremony	Movie
1988	George Pal Memorial Award	Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
1977	Special Jury Award	Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival	God Told Me To (1976)
1975	Special Jury Award	Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival	It's Alive (1974)