THE MANY DEATHS of STEVE COCHRAN Carl Steward E Was a Man Who Died a Thousand Times—Or Maybe It Just Seemed That Way
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THE MANY DEATHS OF STEVE COCHRAN Carl Steward e was a man who died a thousand times—or maybe it just seemed that way. Film noir’s most notorious bad boy, both on and off screen, had a flair for death that was unrivaled in the genre. In fact, as an actor WARNING: who thrived on portraying chumps, crooks and cretins, he might have Contains accumulated more toe tags than anybody in the whole of cinema history. Who else in the annals of film and television ever had not one but Spoilers Htwo fatal head-on collisions with locomotives? Who else ever felt the hot lead of Eliot Ness’ machine gun on two separate occasions, as two different characters? 26 NOIR CITY I SPRING 2014 I filmnoirfoundation.org Who else was so despicable that he was willfully shot to death ulative as to what might have happened, with foul play a distinct by his own mother? Who else took a climactic death plunge off an possibility. Having been dead for ten days and his body badly de- industrial tower, and also got tossed off a carnival Ferris wheel by a composed, however, the official cause of death was ruled to be the freak show ogre? Who else perished as a dim-witted Klansman, and result of a lung infection. Perhaps, as a result of burning the candle at also met his maker by being ravaged by a vengeful sled dog in the both ends for so many years, Cochran was deteriorating rapidly—it Arctic wilderness? showed noticeably on screen in his 1960s roles—and he’d admitted Who else actually kicked off a film as a dead man, having been to being in questionable health. That said, the true facts of Cochran’s rolled into the desert to rot, then had the backstory of his demise told real-life demise are likely to forever remain a mystery. over the course of the flick? What isn’t a mystery is that Cochran left behind a legacy of death Finally, in terms of the ultimate bucket-kick, who ever had a strange, scenes unmatched in film noir, and possibly in the film industry as a suspicious, and sordid real-life death to match and possibly exceed any of whole. The following is an autopsy of his very best croaks: those in which he checked out in front of a camera? Ok, there have been more than a few bizarre deaths in Hollywood history over the past hun- dred years, but none so consistent with the check-outs this man delivered DEATH BY LOCOMOTIVE 1 time and again in movie houses of the 1940s and ’50s. (The Chase, 1946) We’ve identified the body…and his name is Steve Cochran. He Cochran had appeared in a handful of roles, including a couple was a truly mutable corpse, a one-man death toll, with screen termi- of hoods in Boston Blackie films and a solid minor part in The Best nations numbering around two dozen crossing over all genres, with Years Of Our Lives (1946), when he made The Chase during the a solid dozen of those occurring in film noir. That doesn’t even count same year as that all-time classic. his stage turns, where he once played what must have been the most The Chase is a classic in its own right in that it’s Cochran’s true com- improbable Richard III ever. Suffice it to say not even a legend like ing-out party as the eccentric, James Cagney, who so famously plugs Cochran’s Big Ed Somers in sadistic gangster Eddie Roman, 1949’s White Heat before going up in a plume of fire himself atop whom you know is doomed a petroleum tank, could match that career level of lethal exits (And from the outset. Roman lives in Cagney’s career was twice as long!). a huge mansion with his hench- Of course, while he was hardly a huge star at any point in his career, man (Peter Lorre), his disillu- there is much about Cochran’s life and many deaths that still fascinates sioned, desperate wife (Michele fans of film noir and stamps him as a certified icon, DOA or otherwise. Morgan), and his man-eating Unlike Dan Duryea, profiled inNoir City’s last issue, Cochran followed monster of a dog in the wine cel- the noir code—live fast, play hard, die young—away from the studio, lar. He spends much of his time and this has become a significant part of his lingering allure. at home in an almost opiate With his swarthy good looks, steely blue eyes, uber-hairy chest, haze, listening to classical piano and chiseled physique, Steve’s exploits as a serial womanizer were dirges and plotting his next act of well documented. Adding to the legend was his sexual weaponry— mayhem. he was purported to be one of the most well-endowed “perform- His best gimmick is his car, ers” in the film industry, with a libido to match his equipment. He a true “power toy”: Roman cavorted with grand old dames (Mae West, Joan Crawford), young controls both the gas pedal and ones (at 44, he married his third wife, who was 19), and every age brake from the backseat while of skirt in between. His list of alleged affairs reads like a Hollywood the driver helplessly steers the who’s who of starlets. wheel. In the first car scene, he He drank heavily, smoked incessantly and was involved in a num- hits the gas to outrun a speed- ber of well-publicized brawls and other acts of violence, most notably ing train to a crossing intersec- clubbing an ex-boxer over the head in his own home with a baseball tion with frantic hero Robert Cummings at the wheel, then slams on bat. He loved high-powered motorcycles and sports cars, and once the brakes at the last second. led police on a high-speed chase that only ended after a warning shot In the climax, however, he’s being chased by the law and has to try was fired at him. He also took up flying, and was chased down in his and outrun the train to the intersection with Lorre at the wheel. No small-craft plane by a police helicopter for flying too low and tipping braking this time. The end result is a spectacular, albeit messy, start his wings over Tinseltown. He owned a series of odd pets, including to Cochran’s long march of doom. goats, monkeys, and a dog he claimed could play piano. In short, Cochran’s life was tantamount to one long movie role of wild escapades, debauchery, and general strangeness. He played that DEATH BY CRAZED CAGNEY role to the hilt, ultimately delivering the sad but perhaps appropriate (White Heat, 1949) grand finale: a shocking premature death at age 48, when he went Surprisingly, it took three years for Cochran to get another juicy belly-up aboard his sailboat “Rogue,” with three Mexican female bad-guy part as the right-hand man of Cagney’s psychotic, moth- survivors ages 25, 19, and 14. It remains anybody’s guess the full er-loving gangster Cody Jarrett. As Big Ed, the next dimension of responsibilities of that nubile crew. Cochran’s screen persona is revealed. He not only does the tough To this day, nearly 50 years after Cochran was found dead aboard gangster thing, he’s scheming behind Jarrett’s back and stealing his that drifting boat on June 26, 1965, details are sketchy and spec- woman (Virginia Mayo) in the process after Cody is sent to prison. filmnoirfoundation.org I SPRING 2014 I NOIR CITY 27 When Jarrett es- some sort of unofficial re- capes, Big Ed thinks cord starting with White he’s all prepared to Heat in which he met a trap him in a show- violent end in seven con- down, but he gets sur- secutive Warner Bros. prised at his hideout films—five noirs and two thanks to Mayo’s dou- Westerns—before finally ble-cross and gets two getting to live in the excel- slugs in the back from lent Tomorrow Is Another Jarrett trying to make Day (where he only ap- a run for it. For good measure, Cody kicks him down the stairs after pears doomed) at the end wasting him. White Heat is Cagney’s star vehicle pretty much all the of 1951. way, but Cochran has his moments, particularly in his electric scenes Cochran’s exit in The with Mayo. Rumor is that Cochran tried to romance her off screen, Damned Don’t Cry is but she wouldn’t have it. She was one of the few who resisted his of special merit in that off-screen charms. it likely set another re- cord for speed of demise. DEATH BY LOCOMOTIVE 2 Steve comes up dead right after the opening (Highway 301, 1950) credits, when his lifeless Cochran elevates an otherwise tepid police procedural with his corpse is dumped out of unforgettable portrayal of ruthless killer/bank robber George Lagen- a car by mobsters in the za. It also was Cochran’s first true starring role, and he dominates middle of the desert. every scene he’s in Fortunately, the path with his cold-hearted of flamboyant, reckless actions, most notably mob lieutenant Nick Prenta is told in flashback, and we learn of his when he stalks and plot to stage a coup of mob boss George Castleman (David Brian). then guns down his The results are predictable, with Castleman beating Joan Crawford’s bitchy, big-mouthed Ethel Whitehead senseless for information, then gunning down Pren- girlfriend Mary (Vir- ta much as Jarrett did Big Ed in White Heat.