Alfred A. Cohn (March 26, 1880 – February 3, 1951) was an American author, journalist and newspaper editor,Police Commissioner, and screenwriter of the 1920s and 1930s. He worked onThe Jazz Singer, which was nominated for (but did not win) anAcademy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in the1st Academy Awards of 1929.
Cohn was born inFreeport, Illinois, but subsequently moved toCleveland, Ohio where he began work as a newspaper editor and journalist. He then moved toGalveston, Texas, where he ran a newspaper.
Following his career in journalism, he moved toArizona and participated as a secretary in theArizonaconstitutional convention which led to its statehood in 1912.
In the 1920s, he moved to Los Angeles, California and began working as a writer, first doingtitle cards forsilent films and, later, scripts and adaptations. He was a co-writer on the 1926 filmThe Cohens and Kellys, the first of the six-filmCohens and Kellys franchise. His work on adapting The Jazz Singer, one of the first motion pictures with sound, from a play and short story bySamson Raphaelson, led to his first and only nomination for anAcademy Award. During this period, he was a prolific writer and wrote more than 100 scripts, roughly 40 of which were produced into films.
In the 1930s, he retired from screenwriting and was appointed thePolice Commissioner of Los Angeles, and he continued writing as a short story writer. He died of a heart condition in 1951.
