PASSINGS : NAT Cohen, Film Producer

Nat Cohen, 82, the Cockney butcher’s son who became the movie executive behind such hits as “Darling” and “Murder on the Orient Express.” Cohen entered films at age 25 and rose to become chairman and chief executive of EMI, Britain’s largest film producer in the 1970s. Under his leadership, EMI produced a series of madcap box office hits with names such as “Carry On, Sergeant” and “Carry On, Nurse.” His production successes included not only light entertainment but such socially aware movies as “Billy Liar” in 1963 in which Julie Christie was discovered opposite Tom Courtenay and “Darling,” the 1965 film that paired Christie and Dirk Bogarde. Cohen also produced “Murder on the Orient Express,” based on the Agatha Christie mystery novel, and “Far From the Madding Crowd.” In a London hospital on Wednesday of a heart attack.