Oscar-Winning Producer Arthur Cohn Dies in Jerusalem at 98
Arthur Cohn, the Swiss-born Jewish producer whose films won six Academy Awards and whose career bridged European cinema, Hollywood, and Israel, died Friday in Jerusalem at 98, his family said. Cohn, a religious Jew who spent years moving between Basel, Los Angeles, and Jerusalem, was to be laid to rest in Jerusalem on Saturday night.
In the 1970s, Cohn developed a reputation as a formidable Oscar contender, with peers saying it was often futile to go up against his projects. In 1992, he became the first non-American producer to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Film festivals in cities including Chicago, Shanghai, Jerusalem, and Haifa later honored him with lifetime achievement awards, and France awarded him the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
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Cohn’s producing credits ranged from fiction to documentaries. His Oscar-winning titles included the 1972 foreign-language winner The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, directed by Vittorio De Sica, about an Italian Jewish family under fascism; Black and White in Color; Barbara Kopple’s American Dream; and One Day in September, a documentary about the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. He also produced Dangerous Moves and films such as Central Station and The Chorus, both of which received Academy Award nominations.
Born in Basel in 1927, Cohn initially studied international law, then worked in journalism and screenwriting before turning to producing. His father, Marcus Cohn, was a lawyer credited with helping save Jews during World War II by securing documents and passports.
President Isaac Herzog mourned him, writing, “With great sorrow I mourn the passing of Arthur Cohn, a beloved and longtime family and personal friend, and a towering figure in world cinema.” Herzog added, “Arthur Cohn was a multiple Academy Award-winning producer of rare genius,” and said, “May his memory be a blessing.”
Cohn is survived by his wife, Naomi Cohn-Shapiro, five children, and eight grandchildren.
