Ronald M. Cohen


Screenwriter

About

Birth Place
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Born
December 23, 1929
Died
April 21, 1998
Cause of Death
Heart Failure

Biography

After selling a script for the CBS series "Wanted: Dead or Alive" starring Steve McQueen, Ronald M. Cohen quit his job as a taxi driver to concentrate on his writing. He wrote "Blue," a 1968 film starring Terence Stamp and Karl Malden and "The Good Guys and the Bad Guys" in 1969 featuring Robert Mitchum as an aging sheriff. Cohen's television series included ABC's "American Dream" a sh...

Family & Companions

Julie Adams
Companion
Actor. Survived him.

Biography

After selling a script for the CBS series "Wanted: Dead or Alive" starring Steve McQueen, Ronald M. Cohen quit his job as a taxi driver to concentrate on his writing. He wrote "Blue," a 1968 film starring Terence Stamp and Karl Malden and "The Good Guys and the Bad Guys" in 1969 featuring Robert Mitchum as an aging sheriff. Cohen's television series included ABC's "American Dream" a short-lived, controversial 1981 series focusing on racial relations. He was nominated for an Emmy for co-writing the series pilot. Viewer protests over the realistic dialogue helped to end the series. He followed with "Call to Glory" in 1984, a critically acclaimed series also on ABC featuring a family on Edwards Air Force Base during the Cold War. This political military show starred Craig T. Nelson as the head of the family. Cohen again tackled the topics of politics and racial interaction with the 1986 ABC series "Fortune Dane" and shared co-producing credits with Barney Rosenzweig and the show's star Carl Weathers. In this show, Weathers played a black trouble-shooter running the office of a white female mayor. Cohen also wrote episodes of "Walker, Texas Ranger"(CBS), returning to his western writing roots. Cohen's adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel "Last Stand at Saber River" for a 1997 TNT production starring Tom Selleck earned him a Western Heritage Wrangler Award for his script. It achieved the highest rating of any cable movie up to that time.

Life Events

1968

Wrote the screenplay for the film "Blue" featuring Terence Stamp and Karl Malden

1969

Wrote the Robert Mitchum film "The Good Guys and the Bad Guys"

1981

"American Dream", a series he created and co-wrote, premieres on ABC; nominated for an Emmy for co-writing the pilot episode

1984

"Call to Glory", his critically acclaimed series starring Craig T. Nelson, premieres on ABC

1986

"Fortune Dane" a series he co-produced with Barney Rosenzweig and the show's star Carl Weathers airs on ABC

1997

Adapted the Elmore Leonard novel "Last Stand at Saber River" for a TNT production starring Tom Selleck that achieved the highest rating of any cable movie; won a Western Heritage Wrangler award for his script

Videos

Movie Clip

Good Guys And The Bad Guys, The (1969) -- (Movie Clip) Running For Governor? Corny ending after the crooks are caught in the train crash staged outside Chama, New Mexico, then-governor David Cargo uses his own name interviewing the fictional mayor (Martin Balsam), then ex-lawman Robert Mitchum, reformed crook George Kennedy, and new marshal Dick Peabody wrap things up, in The Good Guys And The Bad Guys, 1969.
Good Guys And The Bad Guys, The (1969) -- (Movie Clip) Opening, Marshal Flagg Opening with the custom-written title song (by William Lava and Ned Washington, sung by Glenn Yarbrough), exploiting the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, which was what drew writer-producers Ronald Cohen and Dennis Shryack to Chama, New Mexico, and introducing Robert Mitchum, in The Good Guys And The Bad Guys, 1969.
Good Guys And The Bad Guys, The (1969) -- (Movie Clip) The Lord Made Men After some early plotting, late 19th-century New Mexico marshal Flagg (Robert Mitchum) encounters his landlady (Lois Nettleton) and her son (Bobby Riha), then is pursued by deputy Boyle (Dick Peabody, “Littlejohn” from TV’s Combat), in director Burt Kennedy’s The Good Guys And The Bad Guys, 1969.
Good Guys And The Bad Guys, The (1969) -- (Movie Clip) Stay Here And Hold His Hand Kicked out of his job as marshal in nearby Progress but determined to stop the gang that includes washed-up bandit McKay (George Kennedy), Flagg (Robert Mitchum) attempts an arrest but is thwarted by Deuce (John Davis Chandler) and his self-assured boss Waco (David Carradine), in The Good Guys And The Bad Guys, 1969.

Trailer

Family

Henry Cohen
Brother

Companions

Julie Adams
Companion
Actor. Survived him.

Bibliography