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Steve Cochran (May 25, 1917 - June 15, 1965) was an American film, television, and stage actor, the son of a California lumberman. He graduated from the University of Wyoming in 1939. After a stint working as a cowpuncher, Cochran developed his acting skills in local theatre and gradually progressed onto Broadway, film, and television. From 1949 to 1952, he worked for Warner Brothers (mostly supporting roles, often playing boxers and gangsters) and appeared in many films including The Chase (1946), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Copacabana (1947), A Song Is Born (1948), Highway 301... MORE

Steve Cochran (May 25, 1917 - June 15, 1965) was an American film, television, and stage actor, the son of a California lumberman. He graduated from the University of Wyoming in 1939. After a stint working as a cowpuncher, Cochran developed his acting skills in local theatre and gradually progressed onto Broadway, film, and television. From 1949 to 1952, he worked for Warner Brothers (mostly supporting roles, often playing boxers and gangsters) and appeared in many films including The Chase (1946), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Copacabana (1947), A Song Is Born (1948), Highway 301 (1950), The Damned Don't Cry! (1950), and Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison (1951), which inspired Johnny Cash to write his song "Folsom Prison Blues". One of his most memorable roles was as psychotic mobster James Cagney’s deceitful, power-hungry henchman, Big Ed Somers, in the gangster classic White Heat (1949). In 1953, Cochran formed his own production company, Robert Alexander Productions, where he won critical acclaim for two of his performances in his company's films. Cochran played a disgraced, alcoholic itinerant farmer struggling to regain the love of his family in Come Next Spring (1956), LESS