Peter Shelley Q&A on his book, Steve Cochran - Noir Ladies Man
Why did you choose Steve Cochran as a subject?
At the time I wrote the book there was none on him. This August the University Press of Mississippi released a book on Cochran by Michelangelo Capua. I have not read it but have one of Capua’s other books. So I would guess that my coverage of Cochran’s films and performances is probably more detailed. I’m not one to bag the competition and I do find Capua an excellent writer. But I was told we could go ahead since it is okay to have two books on the same subject.
What does the subtitle Noir Ladies Man mean?
Noir refers to film noir and Cochran made a lot of them. In a way this book is a companion to mine on Lizabeth Scott, who was a contemporary of Steve. Both are best known for noirs though I would say that Cochran has more acting range than Lizabeth. He had a longer career than her though a shorter life. Both also have gay appeal which is a segue into Steve as a ladies man. He was a notorious womaniser and known to have an endowment as legendary as that of Errol Flynn. Cochran dubbed himself The Cock and in some of his films his pants are designed to show off the bulge. It helped that he was otherwise a handsome man who was said to have been a protégé of Mae West, and his lovers included buxom ladies like Jayne Mansfield, Sabrina and Mamie Van Doren. Later in life he switched to teenage girls.
What are your favorite Cochran performances?
I first saw him in the Joan Crawdford vehicle The Damned Don’t Cry where he is one of her three lovers in the film. He was certainly the most attractive of the three but he came to a bad end. In fact, Cochran was often killed in his movies and he enjoyed collaborating on the way it was done. One gem I discovered was She’s Back on Broadway which is a Virginia Mayo vehicle. Cochran gives a brilliant, underrated performance in it, playing a tough stage director and also showing a touching vulnerability. Another notable role is in Storm Warning which is an obvious retread of the play A Streetcar Named Desire but was released before the film version. Cochran’s Stanley Kowalski character is more of an innocent who gets caught up with the Klu Klux Klan! The Blanche DuBois character is played by Ginger Rogers and there is a delicious scene where she gets bullwhipped. Just not by Cochran.
I notice he is smoking in the book’s cover.
I chose that image because Cochran smokes in most of his movies and was a chain-smoker in real life.
Speaking of his real life, I understand his private life was colorful.
That’s an understatement. There was a lot of scandal and run-ins with the police over his reckless behavior. And mystery concerning the way he died, adrift at sea on his yacht, accompanied by girls, of course. It’s a cruel irony that someone so beautiful ended up such a bloated mess as his body decomposed before he was recovered. Cochran died at 48, so relatively young, but he didn’t leave a beautiful corpse. What makes the timing doubly sad is that, the one film he directed, Tell Me In The Sunlight, had yet to be released. It is a very interesting film, and suggested Cochran had a future as a director.
What would you like your readers to take away from the book?
The idea that he was more than just a tough guy. Cochran had a sensitive soul and was a rebel in Hollywood. He found himself typecast but was working to move out of the tough guy roles by producing and directing. But even in those projects he still wanted to be seen with open shirts to show his hairy chest and pants to show his endowment. Who can blame him when he was so damn sexy.