Harry Cohn

Harry Cohn co-founded Columbia Pictures in 1919 and ran it as production chief for nearly forty years, turning it from a low-budget outfit into a major studio after Frank Capra's It Happened One Night swept the 1934 Academy Awards. Rather than keep a stable of contract stars, he borrowed established actors from rival studios while developing lesser-known talent — Rita Hayworth chief among them — into stars of his own making. His autocratic rule, which earned him the nickname "King Cohn," is also documented alongside serious misconduct: multiple accounts describe him conditioning employment on sexual favors, and Jean Arthur said his harassment drove her from Hollywood in 1944.