I Knew Roy Cohn and He Taught Trump Everything

The Apprentice tells it like it is

President Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan with Roy Cohn during a reception for entertainers and major contributors, Reagan White House Photographs, 1985, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

The disbarred attorney who mentored Donald Trump, and whose very appearance bodes evil, is a startling screen presence in The Apprentice, as vividly played by Jeremy Strong.

I’ve watched Al Pacino’s excellent Emmy Award-winning portrayal of Roy M. Cohn in the 2003 HBO mini-series of Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, by Tony Kushner.

I was also at the Broadway premiere of Angels in 1993, applauding Ron Leibman’s Tony awarded performance as Cohn, and years later, I caught a Broadway revival in 2018 of the two-part play with the also excellent and Tony winning Nathan Lane in the part.

These actors were all brilliant and distinguished, but nothing could have prepared me for Strong in the role.

You see, I was around the real Roy Cohn. And in this film, Jeremy Strong is Cohn, uncannily embodying the notorious figure.

Roy Cohn (1927–1986) was slightly below average in height and certainly not handsome, with darting lizardlike displays of tongue and a vertical scar down the center of his bulbous nose. His most remarkable features were his large hooded eyes, a pale brilliant blue, that could have been exceptionally attractive on another man, but on Cohn exuded iciness…