Steve Cochran
Encyclopedia
Steve Cochran was an American film, television, and stage actor, the son of a California lumberman. He graduated from the University of Wyoming
in 1939. After a stint working as a cowpuncher, Cochran developed his acting skills in local theatre and gradually progressed onto Broadway
, film, and television.
(1946), Copacabana (1947), A Song Is Born
(1948), Highway 301
(1950), The Damned Don't Cry!
(1950), and Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison
(1951), which inspired Johnny Cash
to write his song "Folsom Prison Blues
".
One of his most memorable roles was as psychotic mobster James Cagney
’s deceitful, power-hungry henchman
, Big Ed Somers, in the gangster classic White Heat
(1949). In 1953, Cochran formed his own production company, Robert Alexander Productions, where he won critical acclaim for two of his performances in his company's films. Cochran played a disgraced, alcoholic itinerant
farmer struggling to regain the love of his family in Come Next Spring
(1956), and a troubled drifter
in Michelangelo Antonioni
’s Il grido
(1957), produced in Italy
. Cochran's company attempted to produce some television series and other films such as The Tom Mix Story (with Cochran as Mix), but they were never produced with the exception of a television pilot where he played John C. Fremont
in Fremont the Trailblazer. Cochran's final film was Mozambique
.
Cochran starred in a string of B-movies throughout the 1950s
, including Carnival Story
(1954
). He also frequently appeared in episodes of the most popular television series of the era, including guest spots on Bonanza
, The Untouchables
, Route 66
, Bus Stop
, and The Twilight Zone
.
, Jayne Mansfield
, Barbara Payton
, Joan Crawford
, Sabrina
, Merle Oberon
, Kay Kendall
, Virginia Lord, Ida Lupino
and Miroslava. Perhaps his most famous affair was with Mamie Van Doren
, who later wrote about their sex life in graphic detail in her tell-all autobiography Playing the Field: My Story (New York: G.P. Putnam, 1987). He was also married and divorced three times, to actress Fay McKenzie
, and to non-celebrities Florence Lockwood and Jonna Jensen. Despite his many relationships, the Love of his life was a young Mexican woman from Ensenada, Baja California named Sara Venegas Contreras.
Cochran was the grandfather of film
and television producer
Alex Johns
, who co-executive produced more than seventy episodes of the animated television series, Futurama
.
due to an acute lung infection. His body, along with three alive but upset female assistants, remained onboard for ten days since the three women didn't know how to operate the boat. The boat drifted to shore in Port Champerico
, Guatemala
and was found by authorities. There were various rumors of foul play and poisoning, and Merle Oberon
tried to use her influence to push for further police investigations. No new evidence was found.
British singer-songwriter Morrissey
was named Steven after Cochran.
University of Wyoming
The University of Wyoming is a land-grant university located in Laramie, Wyoming, situated on Wyoming's high Laramie Plains, at an elevation of 7,200 feet , between the Laramie and Snowy Range mountains. It is known as UW to people close to the university...
in 1939. After a stint working as a cowpuncher, Cochran developed his acting skills in local theatre and gradually progressed onto Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, film, and television.
Film career
From 1949 to 1952, he worked for Warner Brothers (mostly supporting roles, often playing boxers and gangsters) and appeared in many films including The Chase (1946), The Best Years of Our LivesThe Best Years of Our Lives
The Best Years of Our Lives is a 1946 American drama film directed by William Wyler, and starring Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Harold Russell, a United States paratrooper who lost both hands in a military training accident. The film is about three United States...
(1946), Copacabana (1947), A Song Is Born
A Song Is Born
A Song Is Born was a 1948 Technicolor musical film remake, starring Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo, of 1941 movie Ball of Fire with Gary Cooper...
(1948), Highway 301
Highway 301 (film)
Highway 301 was a 1950 crime drama/film noir directed and written by Andrew L. Stone.- Plot :A gang of robbers are terrorizing and robbing banks and payrolls in North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland. The gang's leader, George, seems to take particular delight in "bumping off" women who cross him...
(1950), The Damned Don't Cry!
The Damned Don't Cry!
The Damned Don't Cry! is a 1950 Warner Bros. drama film starring Joan Crawford, David Brian, and Steve Cochran tells of a woman's involvement with an organized crime boss and his subordinates. The screenplay by Harold Medford and Jerome Weidman was based on a story by Gertrude Walker. The plot...
(1950), and Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison
Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison
Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison is a 1951 drama film starring Steve Cochran and David Brian. Set in Folsom State Prison in California, the film was seen both in the United States and Europe....
(1951), which inspired Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
to write his song "Folsom Prison Blues
Folsom Prison Blues
"Folsom Prison Blues" is the title of a song written and recorded by American country music artist Johnny Cash. The song combines elements from two popular folk genres, the train song and the prison song, both of which Cash would continue to use for the rest of his career...
".
One of his most memorable roles was as psychotic mobster James Cagney
James Cagney
James Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...
’s deceitful, power-hungry henchman
Henchman
Henchman referred originally to one who attended on a horse for his employer, that is, a horse groom. Hence, like constable and marshal, also originally stable staff, henchman became the title of a subordinate official in a royal court or noble household...
, Big Ed Somers, in the gangster classic White Heat
White Heat
White Heat may refer to:In film:* White Heat , a British film directed by Thomas Bentley* White Heat , an American film* White Heat, a 1949 film starring James CagneyIn music:...
(1949). In 1953, Cochran formed his own production company, Robert Alexander Productions, where he won critical acclaim for two of his performances in his company's films. Cochran played a disgraced, alcoholic itinerant
Nomad
Nomadic people , commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but...
farmer struggling to regain the love of his family in Come Next Spring
Come Next Spring
Come Next Spring is a drama film made in Trucolor for Republic Pictures starring Steve Cochran as a former alcoholic who returns to the wife he deserted years ago, played by Ann Sheridan, and their children....
(1956), and a troubled drifter
Vagabond (person)
A vagabond is a drifter and an itinerant wanderer who roams wherever they please, following the whim of the moment. Vagabonds may lack residence, a job, and even citizenship....
in Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian modernist film director, screenwriter, editor and short story writer.- Personal life :...
’s Il grido
Il grido
Il grido is a 1957 Italian black-and-white drama film, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. Its title means "The Outcry", but it was originally released in the English-speaking world as The Cry. The DVD release uses the Italian title. The film stars American actor Steve Cochran, Alida Valli, Betsy...
(1957), produced in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. Cochran's company attempted to produce some television series and other films such as The Tom Mix Story (with Cochran as Mix), but they were never produced with the exception of a television pilot where he played John C. Fremont
John C. Frémont
John Charles Frémont , was an American military officer, explorer, and the first candidate of the anti-slavery Republican Party for the office of President of the United States. During the 1840s, that era's penny press accorded Frémont the sobriquet The Pathfinder...
in Fremont the Trailblazer. Cochran's final film was Mozambique
Mozambique (film)
Mozambique is a 1965 British/German international co-production drama film filmed in the title location produced by Harry Alan Towers, directed by Robert Lynn, written by Peter Yeldham and starring Steve Cochran in his final film role, Hildegard Knef, Paul Hubschmid and Vivi Bach...
.
Cochran starred in a string of B-movies throughout the 1950s
1950s
The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...
, including Carnival Story
Carnival Story
Carnival Story is a 1954 film directed by Kurt Neumann, starring Anne Baxter and Steve Cochran, and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film was shot in 3-D, but was only released to theaters in 2D...
(1954
1954 in film
The year 1954 in film involved some significant events and memorable ones.-Events:*May 12 - The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx divorces wife Marion Benda...
). He also frequently appeared in episodes of the most popular television series of the era, including guest spots on Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
, The Untouchables
The Untouchables (1959 TV series)
The Untouchables is an American crime drama that ran from 1959 to 1963 on ABC. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized the experiences of Eliot Ness, a real-life Prohibition agent, as he fought crime in Chicago during the 1930s with the help of a...
, Route 66
Route 66 (TV series)
Route 66 is an American TV series in which two young men traveled across America. The show ran weekly on CBS from 1960 to 1964. It starred Martin Milner as Tod Stiles and, for two and a half seasons, George Maharis as Buz Murdock. Maharis was ill for much of the third season, during which time Tod...
, Bus Stop
Bus Stop (TV series)
Bus Stop is a 26-episode drama which aired on ABC from October 1, 1961, until March 25, 1962, starring Marilyn Maxwell as Grace Sherwood, the owner of a bus station and diner in the fictitious town of Sunrise in the Colorado Rockies...
, and The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...
.
Personal life
Cochran was a notorious womanizer and attracted tabloid attention for his tumultuous private life, which included well-documented affairs with actresses such as Mae WestMae West
Mae West was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades....
, Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield was an American actress working both in Hollywood and on the Broadway theatre...
, Barbara Payton
Barbara Payton
Barbara Payton was an American film actress best known for her stormy social life and eventual battles with alcohol and drug addiction. Her life has been the subject of several books including Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye: The Barbara Payton Story , by John O'Dowd, and L.A...
, Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
, Sabrina
Sabrina (actress)
Norma Ann Sykes , better known as Sabrina, was a 1950s English glamour model who progressed to a minor movie career. Her main claim to fame was her hourglass figure of prodigious breasts coupled with a tiny 17" waist...
, Merle Oberon
Merle Oberon
Merle Oberon was an Indian-born British actress best known for her screen performances in The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Cowboy and the Lady . She began her film career in British films as Anne Boleyn in The Private Life of Henry VIII . She travelled to the United States to make films for Samuel...
, Kay Kendall
Kay Kendall
Kay Kendall was an English actress.Kendall began her film career in the 1946 musical London Town. Though the film was a financial failure, Kendall continued to work regularly until her appearance in the comedy Genevieve brought her widespread recognition...
, Virginia Lord, Ida Lupino
Ida Lupino
Ida Lupino was an English-born film actress and director, and a pioneer among women filmmakers. In her 48-year career, she appeared in 59 films and directed seven others, mostly in the United States. She appeared in serial television programmes 58 times and directed 50 other episodes...
and Miroslava. Perhaps his most famous affair was with Mamie Van Doren
Mamie Van Doren
Mamie Van Doren is an American actress and singer; who rose to popularity as Universal Pictures's version of 20th Century Fox's Marilyn Monroe....
, who later wrote about their sex life in graphic detail in her tell-all autobiography Playing the Field: My Story (New York: G.P. Putnam, 1987). He was also married and divorced three times, to actress Fay McKenzie
Fay McKenzie
Fay McKenzie starred in several westerns during the 1940s alongside Gene Autry, and married screenwriter Tom Waldman.McKenzie was the daughter of the actor Robert McKenzie and actress Eva McKenzie.-External links:*...
, and to non-celebrities Florence Lockwood and Jonna Jensen. Despite his many relationships, the Love of his life was a young Mexican woman from Ensenada, Baja California named Sara Venegas Contreras.
Cochran was the grandfather of film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
and television producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
Alex Johns
Alex Johns
Alex Johns was an American film and television producer. Johns is best known for his work as the co-executive producer of more than seventy episodes of the animated television series Futurama. He also the co-executive producer of the 2006 film, The Ant Bully.Johns was born in Roseville,...
, who co-executive produced more than seventy episodes of the animated television series, Futurama
Futurama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
.
Death
On June 15, 1965, at the age of 48, Cochran died on his yacht off the coast of GuatemalaGuatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
due to an acute lung infection. His body, along with three alive but upset female assistants, remained onboard for ten days since the three women didn't know how to operate the boat. The boat drifted to shore in Port Champerico
Champerico
Champerico is a municipality in the Retalhuleu department in southwestern Guatemala. It is a popular vacation spot for Guatemalans in the region. The picturesque beach town was founded on the Pacific Ocean in 1872 and the paved road to Retalhuleu makes Champerico one of the most important ports...
, Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
and was found by authorities. There were various rumors of foul play and poisoning, and Merle Oberon
Merle Oberon
Merle Oberon was an Indian-born British actress best known for her screen performances in The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Cowboy and the Lady . She began her film career in British films as Anne Boleyn in The Private Life of Henry VIII . She travelled to the United States to make films for Samuel...
tried to use her influence to push for further police investigations. No new evidence was found.
British singer-songwriter Morrissey
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...
was named Steven after Cochran.