Nat Cohen

Cohen was the only son of Jessie (d. 8 October 1941) and Jacob Cohen who had emigrated from Poland (he had an older sister, Jenny). Jacob Cohen was a kosher butcher from the east end of London who was president of the Jubilee Street synagogue. He was a silent partner in a cinema in the east end. Cohen attended a local LCV school and then joined his father's business. However he was more interested in being involved in cinema and his father agreed.

Cinema owner

In 1932, Cohen bought a 650-seat cinema, the Savoy, in Teddington which he later called a "flea pit. I paid £5 for fourth and fifth reissues for three days. It was a modest living but one couldn't survive on that. I wanted to get into production and distribution." Later on the same year he headed a syndicate that converted the Regent Theatre into a cinema. Cohen's partner was Jerry Rafer, who was later killed in the war.

Over three years Cohen built up a circuit of three cinemas in London and four in the regions. One of the cinemas was the Mile End Empire, where Cohen ran talent quests before the movies commenced; among the artists who featured were a young Tommy Trinder and Bernard Delfont.

Cohen later said "the exhibition side wasn't exciting enough for me. I wanted to get into the production and distribution side." He turned to distribution, starting with re-releases of the Hal Roach comedies. "I was a loner," he said. "I mortgaged everything I had. If it had gone wrong I could not have bailed myself out."

During World War II, Cohen distributed and exhibited military instruction films in England. His wife and daughter were sent to stay with his friend Sam Goldwyn.

Cohen served as "chief barker" of the Variety Club in 1956 and became its elder statesman.

In 1931 Cohen married Ailsey Defries, daughter of Harry Defries (d. 21 April 1941), chairman of the Sterling Film Company. Cohen and his wife had two daughters, Jacqueline Marianne (b 1934) and Angela Shirley (b 14 April 1936). Aisley died of cancer on 6 March 1948. Their daughter Jacqueline had been diagnosed with Hodgkins disease in 1956 and lived in great pain; a drug introduced in 1959 caused her condition to improve but she had to go off it in 1964 – she died in February 1965, aged 31. She was survived by a husband Albert Shalet and daughter Caroline. Cohen never remarried after the death of his first wife but had a number of girlfriends.

Unlike many of his contemporaries such as James Carreras, Nat Cohen never received any honors, despite his business success and charity work.

Nat Cohen died in hospital in February 1988 after suffering a heart attack. He was survived by his daughter Angela, who married Martyn Silver in 1958. The address at Cohen's funeral was given by David Puttnam.