''Citizen Cohn'' is a 1992 made-for-TV movie covering the life of

Joseph McCarthy Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican Party (United States), Republican United States Senate, U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death at age ...

's controversial chief counsel Roy Cohn. James Woods, who starred as Cohn, was nominated for both an

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

and a Golden Globe for his performance. ''Citizen Cohn'' also stars 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). It was directed by Frank Pierson. The movie was based on the 1988 book of the same name by Nicholas von Hoffman; it was filmed on location in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Synopsis

The film spans Cohn's life from childhood through his initial rise to power as McCarthy's right-hand man in the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearings and his eventual public discrediting a month before his death in 1986 from

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

. It is told mostly in flashback as Cohn lies dying at a hospital in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Located just northwest of Washington, D.C., it is a major business and government center of the Washington metropolitan region ...

, hallucinating that his many enemies (from Robert F. Kennedy to Ethel Rosenberg, a convicted

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

spy he sent to the electric chair) are haunting him. It concerns aspects of Cohn's life such as his closeted

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

and the measure of his culpability in the " Red Scare" of the 1950s. 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 Walter Winchell (April 7, 1897 – February 20, 1972) was a syndicated American newspaper gossip columnist and radio news commentator. Originally a vaudeville performer, Winchell began his newspaper career as a Broadway reporter, critic and c ...

* Ed Flanders as Joseph N. Welch * Jeffrey Nordling as G. David Schine * Frederic Forrest as Dashiell Hammett *

Lee Grant Lee Grant (born Lyova Haskell Rosenthal; October 31, during the mid-1920s) is an American actress, documentarian, and director. In a career spanning over seven decades, she won an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Directors Guil ...

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 David Marshall Grant (born June 21, 1955) is an American actor, singer and writer. Life and career Grant was born in Westport, Connecticut to physician parents. Immediately after graduating from Connecticut College with an M.F.A. and receivin ...

as Robert F. Kennedy * Daniel von Bargen as Clyde Tolson * Lester Hoffman as Executioner #1

Score

Thomas Newman Thomas Montgomery Newman (born October 20, 1955) is an American composer, conductor and orchestrator. He is best known for his film scores, earning accolades of six Grammy Award, Grammy Awards, an Emmy Awards, Emmy Award, two British Academy F ...

composed the largely minimalist

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

Awards and nominations

References

External links