Obituaries : ‘J.J.’ Cohn; Hollywood Power Helped Build MGM

Joseph Judson “J.J.” Cohn, one of the five men who built Metro Goldwyn Mayer and the last surviving founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has died.

Cohn, 100, died Friday in his sleep at his Beverly Hills home, a spokesman for the academy said Wednesday.

Few people outside of the motion picture industry ever heard of Cohn, but he was one of the powers in the business. He preferred anonymity--no screen credits, no publicity. He never gave an on-the-record interview until 1977 when he was 82, postponing his daily tennis game to talk to The Times.

The late Howard Strickling, once MGM’s publicity head, said Cohn was part of a group who formed the studio’s nucleus--Louis B. Mayer, Irving Thalberg, Eddie Mannix and Benny Thau.

Gottfried Reinhardt, who produced “Red Badge of Courage,” once described Cohn as “one of Hollywood’s most efficient and imaginative production managers. His instincts, his mind and his acquired taste equipped him for one of the most delicate tasks in filmmaking: to keep that slippery balance between economy and quality.”

It was a balance competitors did not always recognize.

“Everyone thought we were the most expensive picture makers in town,” Cohn told The Times. “In actual fact, we were among the least expensive. I know that at Fox, one time, they were astounded when they found out how low our costs were.”

Cohn’s academy membership card was dated May 11, 1927. He joined the academy in its inaugural year as a member of the producers branch. He remained an active member for the rest of his life, voting on nominations in the feature documentary category.

He was born on Dec. 3, 1895, in New York and joined the Fox Film Co. in 1915, working in the scenario and film editing departments.

Three years later he joined the new Samuel Goldwyn Co. as a cashier and purchasing agent, and moved with the company to Fort Lee, N.J.

When Goldwyn acquired Triangle Studio in Culver City in 1919, he moved to California to become the company’s business manager and later production manager.

When Goldwyn and Metro merged in 1924, Cohn became MGM’s production manager. He became an executive producer in 1937 and a vice president in 1948.

He told a recent interviewer that he would never have believed that the academy would grow into the organization that it has become.