Citizen Cohn is a 1992 American biographical drama television film about the life of Joseph McCarthy's controversial chief counsel Roy Cohn. It was directed by Frank Pierson and written by David Franzoni, based on the 1988 biography by Nicholas von Hoffman. James Woods stars as Cohn, alongside Joe Don Baker (as McCarthy), Ed Flanders (as Cohn's courtroom nemesis Joseph Welch), Frederic Forrest (as writer Dashiell Hammett), and Pat Hingle (as Cohn's onetime mentor J. Edgar Hoover).
Citizen Cohn was filmed on location in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It aired on HBO on August 22, 1992. Woods was nominated for both a Primetime Emmy and a Golden Globe for his performance.
Synopsis The film spans Cohn's life from childhood through his initial rise to power as Joseph McCarthy's right-hand man in the Senate subcommittee hearings of the 1950s, and eventually to his public discrediting a month before his death from AIDS in 1986. It is told mostly in flashback as Cohn lies dying at a hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, hallucinating that his many enemies — from Robert F. Kennedy to Ethel Rosenberg, a convicted Communist spy Cohn had sent to the electric chair — are haunting him.
The film deals with troubling aspects of Cohn's life, such as his closeted homosexuality and the measure of his culpability during the McCarthy era. While the movie portrays Cohn in a decidedly unsympathetic light, it also depicts episodes in his life, such as the death of his beloved mother, in which he showed a more humane, compassionate side.
Cast
James Woods as Roy Cohn Joe Don Baker as Senator Joseph McCarthy Joseph Bologna as Walter Winchell Ed Flanders as Joseph N. Welch Jeffrey Nordling as G. David Schine Frederic Forrest as Dashiell Hammett Lee Grant as Dora Cohn Pat Hingle as J. Edgar Hoover John McMartin as 'Older Doctor' Karen Ludwig as Ethel Rosenberg Josef Sommer as Albert C. Cohn Daniel Benzali as Cardinal Francis Spellman Tovah Feldshuh as Iva Schlesinger John Finn as Senator Charles Potter Fritz Weaver as Senator Everett Dirksen Frances Foster as 'First Annie Lee Moss' Novella Nelson as 'Second Annie Lee Moss' Allen Garfield as Abe Feller David Marshall Grant as Robert F. Kennedy Daniel von Bargen as Clyde Tolson Lester Hoffman as Executioner #1
Score Thomas Newman composed the largely minimalist film score.
Awards and nominations Year Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref. Peabody Awards Home Box Office American Cinema Editors Awards Best Edited Television Special Peter Zinner American Society of Cinematographers Awards Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in a Movie of the Week or Pilot Paul Elliott Artios Awards Best Casting for TV Movie of the Week Mary Colquhoun CableACE Awards Movie or Miniseries Mark Rosenberg, Paula Weinstein, Doro Bachrach, Frank Pierson, and David Franzoni Actor in a Movie or Miniseries James Woods Directing for a Movie or Miniseries Frank Pierson Writing a Movie or Miniseries David Franzoni Art Direction in a Dramatic Special or Series/Theatrical Special/Movie or Miniseries Gary Kosko Direction of Photography and/or Lighting Direction in a Dramatic or Theatrical Special/Movie or Miniseries Paul Elliott Editing a Dramatic Special or Series/Theatrical Special/Movie or Mini-Series Peter Zinner Make-Up Deborah La Mia Denaver and Matthew W. Mungle Directors Guild of America Awards Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Specials Frank Pierson Golden Globe Awards Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television Best Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television James Woods Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Made for Television Movie Mark Rosenberg, Paula Weinstein, Linda Gottlieb, and Doro Bachrach Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special James Woods Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Special Lee Grant Outstanding Individual Achievement in Directing for a Miniseries or a Special Frank Pierson Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Miniseries or a Special David Franzoni Outstanding Individual Achievement in Art Direction for a Miniseries or a Special Stephen Marsh, Gary Kosko, and Diana Stoughton Outstanding Individual Achievement in Casting for a Miniseries or a Special Mary Colquhoun and Donna Belajac Outstanding Individual Achievement in Costume Design for a Miniseries or a Special Jill M. Ohanneson Outstanding Individual Achievement in Editing for a Miniseries or a Special – Single Camera Production Peter Zinner Outstanding Individual Achievement in Hairstyling for a Miniseries or a Special Mona Orr Outstanding Individual Achievement in Makeup for a Miniseries or a Special Lynne K. Eagan, Matthew W. Mungle, John E. Jackson, and Deborah La Mia Denaver Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Miniseries or a Special John Pritchett, Dan Wallin, Anna Behlmer, and Richard Portman
See also Angels in America
References
External links
McCarthyism and the Movies Welch-Cohn Confrontation, NY Times