Cook (August 25, 1947 – January 5, 2013) was an American screenwriter and producer, who wrote The China Syndrome (1979) with Mike Gray and James Bridges, which garnered him Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations.
He began working as a technical editor in 1974 at the engineering and manufacturing company ITT Gilfillan in Panorama City, California.
He got his first writing credit with the 1979 thriller film The China Syndrome, which earned him Oscar and Golden Globe-nominations for Best Screenplay.
He received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Miniseries or a Special, sharing with Paris Qualles, Trey Ellis, Ron Hutchinson, and Robert Williams for The Tuskegee Airmen (1995).
Cook was married to homemaker and writer Marie Monique de Varennes.