Paul Kohner

Birth: May 29, 1902 Death: Mar. 16, 1988

Motion-Picture Producer and Agent. Born in Teplice, in what is now the Czech Republic, he came to the United States with his family before World War I. Kohner joined Universal Studios as a writer in 1925 and was quickly promoted to producer, scoring a huge hit with the classic silent thriller "The Cat and the Canary" (1927). With the arrival of talkies Kohner was put in charge of Universal's international co-productions and foreign-language versions of domestic films. At least two of them, "The White Hell of Pitz Palu" (1929), starring Leni Riefenstahl, and the Spanish-language version of "Dracula" (1931), have acquired cult status. In 1938 he founded the Paul Kohner Agency, representing directors and writers in Hollywood; John Huston, Billy Wilder, and Ingmar Bergman were among his clients. He was the husband of actress Lupita Tovar and the father of actress Susan Kohner. A sad chapter of Kohner's life was recently revealed by historian Scott McQueen. In the 1920s he was engaged to Universal star Mary Philbin, but Philbin's parents forced her to break off the relationship because they were Irish Catholics and Kohner was Jewish. They apparently never got over each other. After Kohner's death, workers cleaning out his office discovered a batch of Philbin's old love letters to him, within easy reach in his desk drawer. Philbin herself never married, and died alone and forgotten in 1993.

Marriage record: TEPLICE (o. Teplice) 2092 O 1923-1937 (30/39)

Additional details:

At some point Paul KOHNER was in charge of a Prague-based periodical called "Internationale Filmschau". This position was later taken over by a friend of his, the screenwriter Paul SCHILLER.

ANNO, Prager Tagblatt, 1925-02-15, Seite 24

https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=ptb&datum=19250215&seit...

cf. also listing here:

https://www.kinematographie.de/FZS.HTM

D 74. Internationale Filmschau. (1. Jahrgang: Filmschau) Prag/ Töplitz Intern. Filmschau 1919 - 1938
101 1920-1938 - Prag, NK 1919-1935 -

Paul KOHNER is named as "contact person on arrival" for Paul SCHILLER on his 12940 New York passenger listing

Also worthy of note is a compelling article written by friend Paul KOHNER for the Aufbau describing his recent post-war trip back to his home town of Teplitz and other places in former Czechoslovakia. KOHNER alludes to the SCHILLER family and his visit to Paul's sister "KALISTA" ...

Aufbau : an American weekly published in New York = Reconstruction - Freitag, 24.08.1945 - Deutsches Zeitungsportal

https://www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/newspaper/item/6TTBADKC...

Obituary for Paul KOHNER in Aufbau:

Mar 18, 1988, page 29 - The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers.com

https://www.newspapers.com/image/404314839/?match=2&terms=%22paul%2...

"friend" Paul SCHILLER is here: Dr. Paul Schiller