Biography
His ambitious 1972 debut, "Bone" (aka "Dial Rat for Terror" or "Beverly Hills Nightmare") featured Yaphet Kotto as a Black intruder who has a surprising showdown with an affluent white couple (Andrew Duggan, Joyce Van Patten) in their Beverly Hills home. This bizarre black comedy was an attempt to adapt the social satirical concerns of British playwright Joe Orton and Jean-Luc Godard (circa "Weekend" 1967) into an American milieu. Cohen went …
Latest Tv Credits
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Career Milestones
| Created and wrote episodes of "Branded", an NBC-TV Western starring Chuck Connors | ||
| Created and wrote episodes of the ABC-TV sci-fi thriller, "The Invaders" | ||
| Served as "murder consultant" for "Columbo" on NBC-TV | ||
| Wrote for the popular CBS-TV courtroom drama, "The Defenders" in the early 1960s | ||
1958 | Worked as a writer for "Kraft Mystery Theatre" on NBC-TV | |
1963 | Wrote for "Arrest and Trial", an ABC-TV cop/lawyer drama | |
1965 | Formed own film production company, Larco | |
1966 | Created and wrote episodes of the ABC-TV WWII spy drama, "Blue Light", starring Robert Goulet | |
1966 | Feature screenwriting debut, "I Deal in Danger", a film version of "Blue Light" | |
1966 | Wrote "The Return of the Seven", a Burt Kennedy-directed sequel to "The Magnificent Seven" | |
1970 | Wrote and directed his first play off-off-Broadway, "Nature of the Crime" starring Tony Lo Bianco | |
1971 | TV movie writing debut, "In Broad Daylight" | |
1972 | Feature debut as a producer and director, "Bone" (which he also wrote) | |
1972 | Wrote the TV-pilot-turned-TV-movie "Cool Million" (AKA "Mask of Marcella") starring James Farentino | |
1973 | Wrote and directed the feature films "Hell Up In Harlem" and "Black Caesar," both starring Fred Williamson | |
1974 | Co-wrote the screenplay treatment for Martin Scorsese's documentary short "Italianamerican" | |
1974 | Wrote and directed the horror film "It's Alive"; followed with sequel "It's Alive 2" in 1978 | |
1976 | Wrote, produced and directed the feature film "God Told Me To" starring Tony Lo Bianaco, Deborah Raffin and Sandy Dennis | |
1977 | Wrote and directed the feature film "The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover" starring Broderick Crawford and Jose Ferrer | |
1979 | Provided the original story for the feature film "The American Success Company" starring Jeff Bridges | |
1981 | Wrote and driected the comedy-horror remake "Full Moon High" | |
1982 | Adapted the Mickey Spillane novel "I, the Jury" for the screen, starring Armand Asante as Mike Hammer | |
1982 | Wrote and directed the comedy-horror film "Q", about an Aztec god-beast in New York City, starring Michael Moriarity | |
1983 | Provided the story for the NBC women-in-prison telepic "Women of San Quentin" | |
1983 | Wrote and directed the thriller "Perfect Strangers" | |
1984 | Co-wrote the story (with director Rob Cohen) for the comedy "Scandalous" | |
1985 | Made first film appearance, as Ace Tomato agent in John Landis's "Spies Like Us" | |
1985 | Wrote and directed the comedy-horror film "The Stuff" and the sci-fi thriller "Special Effects" starring Michael Moriarity | |
1987 | Co-wrote the story and directed "Return to Salem's Lot," the comedic sequel to the film based on Steven King's thriller; again worked with Moriarity as the star | |
1987 | Provided the screenplay for the well-regarded detective thriller "Best Seller" starring James Woods and Brian Dennehy | |
1988 | Created the syndicated reality series "Cop Talk: Behind the Shield" (1988-1989) | |
1988 | Wrote the screenplay for the cult horror film "Maniac Cop"; returned for sequels "Maniac Cop 2" in 1990 and "Badge of Silence: Maniac Cop III" in 1993 | |
1989 | Wrote and directed the comic witchcraft caper "Wicked Stepmother" starring Bette Davis | |
1990 | Wrote and directed the suspense thriller "The Ambulance" | |
1993 | Co-wrote the screen story for director Abel Ferrara' sci-fi remake "Body Snatchers" | |
1993 | Wrote the screenplay for the courtroom potboiler "Guilty As Sin," directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Don Johnson and Rebecca DeMornay | |
1995 | Wrote episodes of the television drama "NYPD Blue" | |
1995 | Wrote the original screenplay for the HBO action telepic "The Expert" | |
1996 | Wrote the straight-to-cable thrillers "Invasion of Privacy" and "The Ex" which debuted on HBO | |
1998 | Provided the story for "The Defenders: Choice of Evils," the Showtime telepic revival of the classic TV courtroom drama | |
1998 | Wrote the screenplay for the schloky thriller "Uncle Sam" | |
2002 | Wrote the original screenplay for the thriller "Phone Booth," directed by Joel Schumacher and starring Colin Farrell | |
2004 | Penned the thriller "Cellular" | |
2007 | Wrote the thriller, "Captivity" starring Elisha Cuthbert | |