“In Hollywood the story is the thing. Whether it is factual or fictional is immaterial.”
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Art Cohn, The Nine Lives of Michael Todd

Though a captain might be expected to go down with his ship, the same is not true of a biographer and his subject matter. Strangely, however, that is what happened to Hollywood screenwriter and author Art Cohn. His authorized biography of Elizabeth Taylor’s third husband Mike Todd was nearly complete when he accompanied Todd on an ill-fated trip aboard Todd’s private airplane The Liz. The overloaded plane was traveling from Los Angeles to New York when the engine sputtered, and the vessel crashed to the ground in a fiery explosion.
 
All on board perished, but Cohn’s manuscript, nearly finished, was safely back in Los Angeles. The book’s title had already been selected: the fate-tempting The First Nine Lives Michael Todd. Though evidently an affront to the gods, its title was apt. The showman entrepreneur had weathered a succession of highs and lows before becoming one of Hollywood’s most important producers after the success of the Academy Award-winning film Around the World in 80 Days. The publisher ignored the irony and kept the title almost as it was intended, only eliminating the word “first.” It was released posthumously with Cohn’s widow deciphering her husband’s notes to finish the final two chapters.

A copy of The Nine Lives of Michael Todd is coming to the Nick Harvill Libraries kiosk at the Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood this August.

Elizabeth Taylor’s third husband Mike Todd died in an air crash aboard their private plane, The Liz. It was a terrible tragedy, and the only marriage for Taylor that ended in widowhood rather than divorce.  
 
Todd was not the only passenger who perished in the crash. Art Cohn, who was writing an authorized biography of Todd, was also aboard. He was a screenwriter but not an A-List player, with just a few credits for “Additional Dialogue” to his name. It is a credit that no longer exists. The Writer’s Guild long ago did away with it.
 
The day after the mishap, Ivan Moffat was dining at Charlie Feldman’s, and of course, Topic A was the tragic air crash. One woman remarked, “What an awful thing for Art Cohn’s widow, that almost every account of the crash, the press hardly mentioned his name.” Billy Wilder, also in attendance, deadpanned, “Yes, at least they should have given credit for Additional Dying.”

Via The Ivan Moffat File by Gavin Lambert.