- Born
- Died
- Nickname
- Herm
- Herman Cohen's motion picture career began at his local cinema, the Dexter Theater in Detroit, during his preteen years--he worked there as a "gofer" and later as an usher. He next became assistant manager of Detroit's Fox Theater. After a Marine Corps hitch, Cohen worked as sales manager for the Detroit branch of Columbia Pictures, then relocated to Hollywood and worked in the publicity department of Columbia there. He produced his first movies for Jack Broder's Realart Pictures in the early 1950s and made several subsequent pictures for Allied Artists and United Artists. Cohen made exploitation history in the mid-1950s when he began producing some of American-International's earliest hits, among them the cult favorite I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957). Many of his later horror pictures were shot in England, among them the Joan Crawford-starring Berserk (1967) and Trog (1970).- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tom Weaver <TomWeavr@aol.com> (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous)
- James H. Nicholson approached him about being his partner in American Releasing Company (later American International Pictures). Cohen had to turn the offer down due to a commitment to United Artists. Nicholson then offered the position to a lawyer, Samuel Z. Arkoff. Many of Cohen's productions would be released through AIP.
- Interviewed in the Tom Weaver books "Attack of the Monster Movie Makers" (McFarland & Co., 1994), "Eye on Science Fiction" (McFarland & Co., 2003) and "A Sci-Fi Swarm and Horror Horde" (McFarland & Co., 2010).
- Former US Marine, discharged in 1949.
- [on working with Joan Crawford on Berserk (1967)] When Joan arrived, she had four cases of 100-proof vodka with her, because that strength is unavailable in England. In spite of her sipping the vodka, she was very professional during "Berserk", and she never took a drink unless I okayed it. She always knew her lines and she was always on time--in fact, she came in very early in the morning to cook breakfast for anyone who had an early call. She was strong-willed and tough--but tough as she was, she could be reduced to tears at the drop of a hat, and there were scenes in our movie when she had to do just that.
- [on working with Bela Lugosi on Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952)] He was an old man and not well . . . You couldn't have a personal relationship with him, or a personal conversation, because the minute he was through shooting anything on the sound stage, they [his wife and son] would whisk him back to his dressing room.
- [on how he learned to make movies while at producer Jack Broder's low-budget Realart Pictures] . . . Jack Broder didn't know anything about production. And I was learning. I always hired the top production supervisors and assistant directors, people who really knew their stuff. And when things would come up in a meeting and they'd ask me to make a decision--I was making the decisions on the film-- I'd say, "We'll discuss it tomorrow morning." And that night, I would dash to UCLA, to the Cinema Library, to read up on what the fuck they were talking about [laughs]! That's a true story! I'd read up, or I'd call up a couple friends, a couple film editors I knew from Columbia, and ask them. The next morning, suddenly I became very bright!
- [on Edward Leven, credited on Bride of the Gorilla (1951) as Associate Producer] Oh [laughs]--oh, God. What a thief! He wasn't the associate producer, he was NOTHING on it. He TALKED his way into it--he was a great talker! Edward Leven is somebody that [producer Jack Broder] met at the Friars Club, he was the son of a very wealthy friend of Jack's. All of a sudden one day, Jack brings in this guy to the studio and he says, "Herman, Edward Leven needs credits. He has to get into the business." So he made him associate producer of "Bride of the Gorilla". Jack instructed me, "I want you to tell him what he has to know"--and here I am, learning myself! And, Jack added, "Don't let him make any decisions!" [Laughs] That's how Edward Leven got involved. Then one day our prop man told Jack that ALL the furniture that we rented at the prop house, Leven had had delivered to his home--he stole it all [laughs]. Leven had the prop man ship all the furniture that he picked out at the prop house to his home--just as we were building the sets and what have you. He was furnishing his house on Jack Broder!
- [on what it was like working with the Sioux Indians, who were playing extras, on Battles of Chief Pontiac (1952), filmed near a Sioux reservation near Rapid City, SD] Terrible. 'Cause they would drink like crazy every night. There were two or three of 'em killed during the course of the shooting--killed at the Indian village, their deaths had nothing to do with us. We hired Indian deputy sheriffs to [maintain order] at the village, because the Indian men would get drunk at night and fight and this and that. We'd been told by the government Indian office that we better have security, because of the alcohol problem with the Indians. We also needed deputy sheriffs to keep the Indians there--otherwise, somebody we established in the movie today, tomorrow they're gone!
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