Ronni Chasen facts for kids

Ronni Sue Chasen (October 17, 1946 – November 16, 2010) was an American publicist, who once represented such actors as Michael Douglas, as well as musicians such as Hans Zimmer and Mark Isham, among others. Chasen directed the Academy Award campaigns for more than 100 films during her career, including Driving Miss Daisy in 1989 and The Hurt Locker in 2009.

Chasen was shot and killed on November 16, 2010, while driving home from the premiere of the film Burlesque. Police concluded that unemployed felon Harold Martin Smith killed her during a random robbery.

Life and career

Chasen was born Veronica Cohen to a Jewish family in Kingston, New York, in 1946. She was raised in both the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx and the Washington Heights section of Manhattan. She won a series of Duncan Toys Company yo-yo contests held in Morningside Heights as a child.

Chasen began her early career as a publicist for her brother, film director Larry Cohen, who hired her as a publicist for his 1973 blaxploitation film, Hell Up in Harlem, which became one of her earliest jobs in the industry.

Chasen became known in Hollywood for her PR work on such films as On Golden Pond, and the second film in the Oliver Stone/Michael Douglas Wall Street film franchise, Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps. She was pushing for Oscar recognition for Douglas in his role as the money hungry, risk averse character Gordon Gekko. Chasen successfully directed the Oscar campaign for the 1989 film Driving Miss Daisy, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture the following year.

In addition to being named the Senior Vice President for Publicity at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1993, Chasen owned the PR firm Chasen & Co., in which she focused on artists who composed film music, such as Trevor Horn, Mark Isham, Hans Zimmer, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, and brothers David and Thomas Newman. Laura Dunn of the Society of Composers and Lyricists said of Chasen, "She laid the groundwork for so many others on how to be a top publicist in the film music industry representing top composers and songwriters."

According to Los Angeles Times film critic Patrick Goldstein, Chasen reminisced about her early years while working with George Burns on the hit 1970s film The Sunshine Boys and coaching the budding star John Travolta on how to handle his first interview after his fame first broke during Welcome Back Kotter.

Chasen was working with Richard D. Zanuck and Lili Zanuck for the Oscar campaign of the 2010 film Alice in Wonderland at the time of her death. Following her murder, Chasen was called "Hollywood's ultimate old-school publicist" by Patrick Goldstein.

Death

Chasen was shot in Beverly Hills on November 16, 2010, at approximately 12:28 a.m. PST, as she was driving home from the Hollywood premiere of the film Burlesque.

Chasen was buried at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California. She was the sister of film director Larry Cohen who died in 2019.

Investigation

The final police report stated that the killing was a failed robbery.