About

Known credits:
18
Birthday:
1891-06-26
Place of birth:
Charleston, South Carolina, USA
Website:
N/A

Octavus Roy Cohen

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Octavus Roy Cohen (1891–1959) was a European-American author, born in South Carolina, where he received his secondary education at the Porter Military Academy, now the exclusive Porter-Gaud School. He went on to receive a college education at Clemson University. Between 1910 and 1912 he worked in the editorial departments of the Birmingham Ledger, the Charleston News and Courier, the Bayonne Times, and the Newark Morning Star. He became popular as a result of his stories printed in The Saturday Evening Post which concerned themselves with African-Americans. In 1913, he was admitted to the South Carolina bar and practiced law in Charleston for two years. Between 1917 and his death he published 56 books, works that included humorous and detective novels, plays, and collections of short stories. He also composed successful Broadway plays and radio, film, and television scripts.

Cohen's character of Jim Hanvey, "a sort of backwoods Nero Wolfe", "one of the earliest private eyes", appeared in two films; Curtain at Eight (1933), based on his novel The Backstage Mystery, and Jim Hanvey, Detective (1937), based on his original story. "Hanvey made most of his appearances in short stories in The Saturday Evening Post, where much of ... Cohen's other work was also published. ... Cohen created a few other detectives ... one of the first black eyes, Florian Slappey, although they're more famous now for their unflattering portrayal of blacks than their historical significance."

Known for

Writing
1941 The Pittsburgh Kid Writing Novel N/A
N/A
1940 I Love You Again Writing Novel 60
Fair
1937 The Outer Gate Writing Novel 59
Average
1937 Jim Hanvey, Detective Writing Story 59
Average
1936 They Met in a Taxi Writing Story 59
Average
1935 The Virginia Judge Writing Original Concept N/A
N/A
1935 Transient Lady Writing Story 59
Average
1931 The Big Gamble Writing Novel 59
Average
1930 The Social Lion Writing Story 59
Average
1929 Why Bring That Up? Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1929 The Lady Fare Writing Story N/A
N/A
1929 The Framing of the Shrew Writing Writer 59
Average
1928 The Law and the Man Writing Story N/A
N/A
1920 Dollars and Sense Writing Story N/A
N/A
1918 The Kaiser's Shadow Writing Story N/A
N/A
1918 The Eyes of Mystery Writing Story N/A
N/A
1917 The Strong Way Writing Story 58
Average
1916 The Matrimaniac Writing Story 59
Average