Steve Cochran

Steve Cochran

Steve Cochran was born in Eureka, California, but grew up in Laramie, Wyoming. Cochran quit college in 1937 and decided to go straight to Hollywood to become a star. He supported Joan Crawford in The Damned Don’t Cry, after which he was given his first lead role, in Highway 301.

About Steve Cochran in brief

Summary Steve CochranSteve Cochran was born in Eureka, California, but grew up in Laramie, Wyoming. He studied at the University of Wyoming, where he also played basketball. Cochran quit college in 1937 and decided to go straight to Hollywood to become a star. He was rejected for military service in World War II because of a heart murmur but directed and performed in plays at a variety of Army camps. He supported Joan Crawford in The Damned Don’t Cry, after which he was given his first lead role, in Highway 301. In 1949 Cochran went over to Warner Bros., playing Big Ed Somers, a power-hungry henchman to James Cagney’s psychotic mobster in White Heat. He then went to Germany and starred in the low-budget action film Shark River for United Artists and was a villain to Rock Hudson in Back to God’s Country. He returned to television appearing in episodes of Lux Video Theatre and Lux Video Studio.

He reportedly wrote and directed a film in Mexico called Embarcadero, which he co-starred in alongside Edward Norriero. He died in a car crash in California in 1998. He is survived by his wife, two children and a step-daughter. He had a son and two step-daughters with his first wife, who died in 2008. He has a daughter with his second wife, Barbara, and a son with his third wife, Susan. He also has a son who is a professional golfer and a grandson who plays professional golf. He played the lead role in Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison, which inspired Johnny Cash to write his song Folsum Prison Blues. He appeared in the film Ski Trooper, a film called Ski Trooper starring Burt Lancaster, and The Lion and the Horse in Operation The Desert Song, a rare role announced for a sympathetic star. In the early 1940s he worked with the Shakespeare Festival in Carmel, California.