He's been called "an unsung giant of British film who never got his due from the establishment in part because of (possibly unconscious) anti-Semitism... the ability to be a successful studio head is very rare and most only last a few years.
Jacob Cohen was a kosher butcher from the east end of London who was president of the Jubilee Street synagogue.
[5] One of the cinemas was the Mile End Empire, where Cohen ran talent quests before the movies commenced; among the artists who featured were a young Tommy Trinder and Bernard Delfont.
[11][12] Cohen produced some films with Dan Angel that were directed by Val Guest, Mystery at the Burlesque (1949) and Miss Pilgrim's Progress (1949).
[4] Cohen's first film of note was The Sleeping Tiger (1954), starring Alexis Smith and Dirk Bogarde, and directed by Joseph Losey, an American expatriate who had moved to Britain because he had been greylisted.
Cohen had a big box office success with The Tommy Steele Story (1957), one of the most popular movies of the year in Britain.
[17] Even more popular was Carry On Sergeant (1958), a huge box office success in Britain and very profitable due to its low cost.
[10] For the company, Cohen produced Peeping Tom (1960( directed by Michael Powell and The Criminal (1960) from Joseph Losey.
Cohen continued to back films directed by John Schlesinger: Darling, which won several Oscars, and Far from the Madding Crowd.
[27] The actual head of production at EMI Films was Bryan Forbes but Cohen had autonomy over his own unit.
In April 1971 Cohen was appointed managing director of EMI-MGM, a new company formed to make international films.
By 1973, the British film industry was in crisis, due to a combination of declining audiences, a weak dollar and lack of overseas investment.
[38] Puttnam's then-producing partner Sandy Lieberson later said Cohen "gave us a blank cheque in effect, but always kept the reins on.
He drove up and down Wardour Street in a cream Rolls-Royce with a number plate that said Nat 1 (just to rub it in the noses of all of us snobby and opinionated film industry oiks who were less than enamored by him) to emphasize just who actually was the smart one.
[40]It was argued "Cohen’s bread-and-butter output consisted of big screen adaptations of TV series...mixed in with some late Hammer horrors... action films... star vehicles for local comics... sequels to hits...
He added that his career highlights were Julie Christie winning an Oscar for Darling and the success of Murder on the Orient Express.
[4] In October 1975 EMI signed an exclusive distribution deal for £20 million of films from Dino de Laurentiis starting with Buffalo Bill and the Indians.
"[51] Alexander Walker of the Evening Standard reported that "EMI has been criticised as playing safe and investing in... parochial British comedies" and that the success with Orient was "not followed up as it should have.
[42] Eventually Michael Deeley and Barry Spikings became managing directors of EMI Films while Cohen became executive chairman.
Cohen stayed at EMI for several more years, a period he described as "an awkward stage... not quite sure where I was supposed to be; and rarely finding people available when I wanted to consult them.
"[56] During this time, EMI made some expensive failures including Honky Tonk Freeway and Can't Stop the Music, none of which involved Cohen.
"I suppose you could sum it up this way", he said later, "I was very fortunate that as these costly deals were being made, I seemed to be losing control of picture making in the company.
His blue colours with white diamond, hooped sleeves and amber cap were carried to victory by Kilmore in the 1962 Grand National.
[65] Their daughter Jacqueline had been diagnosed with Hodgkins disease in 1956 and lived in great pain; a drug introduced in 1959 caused her condition to improve but she had to go off it in 1964 - she took an accidental overdose of barbituates in order to get some sleep and died in February 1965, aged 31.
[70] In 1974 a profile of Cohen described him as: A more urbane version of the one-man-bands who used to boss the studios in Hollywood's heyday of the movie moguls.
An impresario, a bon vivant, a racehorse owner with many winds in his stable, he applies the lessons of the turf to the film industry when he affirms that 'there is no such thing as playing safe' and describes himself as 'a gambler, but an extremely cautious one.
"[72] Ned Sherrin called him "a short, spick and span, old-school mogul — a British version of the ex-furtrader tsars of Hollywood.
A dapper little man with a cropped, military moustache, he loved making a deal, having a pretty girl on his arm, owning a Grand National winner... and showing off his flat in St James.
"[74] Cohen said of himself: Making films is no different from the manufacture of shoes or any other product... My job is to entertain the public and if I can commercialism and art, all the better.
[5]A 1988 obituary called him, "the British movie mogul par excellance, except that he was considered honourable and fair... a neat dresser, bon vivieur, he was much loved - not the least by the young ladies usually introduced as 'Have you met my niece?