Quinn Martin Biography
Quinn Martin (May 22, 1922 – September 5, 1987) was one of the most successful American television producers. He had at least one series running in prime time for 21 straight years (from 1959 to 1980), an industry record.
Early life
He was born in New York City as
Irwin Martin Cohn, the second of two children. His father Martin G. Cohn was a film editor and producer at MGM; his mother was Anna Cohn. From age four he was raised in Los Angeles. He graduated from Fairfax High School. He served five years in the U.S. Army during World War II, enlisting in the Signal Corps at Fort MacArthur in San Pedro, California on September 10, 1940. He achieved the rank of sergeant. He would change his name to Quinn Martin (the
Quinn came from the pronunciation his friends gave of Cohn, as "Co-Inn").
While attending the University of California, Berkeley During 1959, he produced for Desilu Productions a two part special that appeared in season 1 of Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse that became a weekly television show
The Untouchables that would go on to win Emmy Awards.
In 1960, Martin established his own production company,
QM Productions. He sold it in 1978 and worked as an adjunct professor at the University of California, San Diego's Warren College, He also established a scholarship for theater arts and communications students at Santa Clara University
QM Productions
QM Productions produced a string of successful television series during the 1960s and 1970s, including
The Fugitive,
Twelve O'Clock High,
The F.B.I.,
The Invaders,
The Streets of San Francisco,
Cannon, and
Barnaby Jones. Besides producing sixteen one-hour network series, he also produced twenty TV movies, including
Attack on Terror,
Brinks: The Great Robbery,
Face of Fear,
House on Greenapple Road, and
Murder of Mercy. His only venture into the world of cinema was
The Mephisto Waltz, released by Twentieth Century-Fox.
During 1979, a group of investors purchased his wholly owned QM Productions and sold it subsequently to Taft Broadcasting, which itself has since changed ownership, from Worldvision Enterprises to Republic Pictures. Nowadays, Republic and CBS Television Studios own ancillary rights to all of QM's library except
Twelve O'Clock High (owned by 20th Television),
Banyon and
The F.B.I. (the latter two of which are owned by both the Martin estate and Warner Bros. Television), with CBS Television Distribution handling TV distribution and Paramount Home Entertainment/CBS DVD handling DVD distribution.
After selling QM Productions he moved to Rancho Santa Fe, California where he became president of the La Jolla Playhouse and the Del Mar Fair Board. He was also involved with business activities developing motion pictures for Warner Bros. with a new company,
QM Communications.
Thoroughbred racing
A fan of thoroughbred horse racing, Martin owned several racehorses alone and in partnerships. Among his racing wins were the 1975 and 1978 editions of the Carleton F. Burke Handicap at Santa Anita Park.
