Hildy Parks Cohen, 78; Actress Wrote Scripts for Tony Awards Shows

Hildy Parks Cohen, 78, the producer, writer and actress who scripted the first 20 Tony Awards telecasts and other specials, died Thursday at the Actors Fund Home in Englewood, N.J., of complications after a recent stroke.

With her late husband, theatrical producer Alexander H. Cohen, she created Tony Awards programs from 1967 to 1986. He produced the shows, and she wrote them, winning kudos for their lively topicality, which made them a model for Academy Awards and other televised award shows.

She also wrote and produced two Emmy Awards telecasts and specials, including “Placido Domingo: Steppin’ Out With the Ladies.” She earned Emmys for producing the Tony Awards in 1980 and for producing “The Night of 100 Stars” in 1982.

A native of Washington, D.C., she began her acting career in New York, making her Broadway debut in “Bathsheba” in 1947, starring James Mason and Gloria Swanson. Parks appeared in several 1950s television shows, including “Studio One,” and as Ellie Crown in the original cast of the soap opera “Love of Life.”