Larry Cohen originally emerged as the writer of blaxploitation films such as Bone, Black Caesar, and Hell Up in Harlem.
28 Facts About Larry Cohen
2.
Early in his career, Larry Cohen was a prolific television writer, creating series such as Branded, Blue Light, Coronet Blue, and The Invaders.
3.
In 2017, Larry Cohen was the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Fantasia International Film Festival.
4.
Larry Cohen was born in Manhattan, New York City, on July 15,1936.
5.
Larry Cohen's sister, Ronni Chasen, was a publicist who worked with him beginning early in his film career.
6.
Larry Cohen moved to the Riverdale section of the Bronx in New York City at an early age.
7.
Larry Cohen exhibited a voracious appetite for films as a child, visiting the movie theaters at least twice a week, and most of them being double features, the young Larry Cohen managed to consume at least four movies a week.
8.
Larry Cohen was a fan of the hard-boiled and film noir movies that featured actors such as Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney; films that were penned by the likes of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett.
9.
Larry Cohen was especially a fan of director Michael Curtiz, whose films include The Adventures of Robin Hood, Casablanca, and Dodge City.
10.
Larry Cohen majored in film studies at the City College of New York.
11.
Larry Cohen created the TV series The Invaders and scripted episodes of The Defenders and The Fugitive.
12.
Larry Cohen began his career as a writer for well-known television series, concentrating his efforts on the crime and detective genres.
13.
Larry Cohen created the Western TV series Branded and was the co-creator with Walter Grauman of Blue Light.
14.
Larry Cohen directed Dial Rat for Terror and Housewife before creating the It's Alive series in 1974.
15.
Larry Cohen wrote, produced and directed the horror film It's Alive, about a mutant monster baby that embarks on a killing spree.
16.
Larry Cohen concentrated his work predominantly within the horror genre throughout the 1970s and 1980s, often incorporating elements of crime, police procedural, and science fiction with scathing social commentary.
17.
The film is set in New York City, as was typical for Larry Cohen, and sees two police detectives investigating a spate of killings in the city.
18.
Larry Cohen finished the 1980s with Wicked Stepmother, in which the late Bette Davis made her last appearance.
19.
Larry Cohen began the 1990s with his film The Ambulance starring Eric Roberts.
20.
Larry Cohen then provided the story of the third adaptation of Jack Finney's 1955 science-fiction novel The Body Snatchers, a tale of alien invasion and paranoia: Body Snatchers was directed by Abel Ferrara and starred Forest Whitaker.
21.
Larry Cohen's next film, another action-crime thriller titled Cellular, featured phones and, like Phone Booth, it was a modest commercial success with an estimated budget of $25 million and a gross worldwide return of $50 million.
22.
Cellular was later re-made as Connected, Larry Cohen being credited with the story.
23.
Larry Cohen then scripted the horror-thriller films Captivity and Messages Deleted ; however, both films fared poorly on a critical and commercial level.
24.
Larry Cohen nevertheless received acclaim for the above-mentioned Pick Me Up, which he directed for the Mick Garris TV series Masters of Horror.
25.
Larry Cohen's contribution was the segment Pick Me Up, based on a short story by David Schow, who wrote the teleplay.
26.
Larry Cohen was married twice: to Janelle Webb, until their divorce in 1980; and then to Cynthia Costas, from 1994 until his death.
27.
On March 23,2019, Larry Cohen died from cancer at his home in Beverly Hills, California, at age 82.
28.
Critical response to Larry Cohen's work has been extremely varied, with reviews ranging from good to poor.