Lynn Cohen made stern older women worth listening to, particularly as Magda in Sex and the City. We value her precision and plain speaking, even when the material gives her little room.
Fi1m perspective
Magda does not sound apologetic about having an opinion. As Miranda’s housekeeper in Sex and the City, Lynn Cohen makes plain speaking funny without reducing the woman to a nuisance. There is a useful firmness to these performances: stern, maternal characters whose judgement carries weight. We rate that precision, though the parts themselves do not always give her much beyond authority to play.
Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993), directed by Woody Allen, was an early notable film part, followed by Maman in Vanya on 42nd Street (1994). The substantial theatre background helps explain the care she brings to ensemble work. Her characters are clearly drawn without needing to dominate the film. Magda, a recurring television role from 2000, brought that approach to wider attention.
The 2008 film of Sex and the City also shows the limits of a reliable supporting cast. Cohen returns as Magda, but the reunion stretches beyond its story, with clothes and sentiment occupying time the drama cannot fill. Cynthia Nixon gets room to play unhappiness, and the women remain good company. That is not enough to recommend the film, and fondness for Cohen should not require us to pretend otherwise.
The Station Agent (2003) is the stronger choice, with Cohen in the small role of Patty at the Good to Go. Tom McCarthy’s comedy is anchored by Peter Dinklage’s watchful performance. We warmed to its reluctant friendships because McCarthy gives the actors time to make them believable. The plotting occasionally becomes too helpful. For anyone coming principally for Cohen, the size of the part is the caveat.
In Steven Spielberg’s Munich (2005), Cohen brings authority and warmth to Golda Meir, while Mags in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) calls on her physical commitment. Those parts ask different things of a performer so often cast as the stern older woman. For Cohen herself, we would start with Magda’s television appearances; the 2008 film is for the already persuaded.
Biography
Lynn Cohen was an American actress. Born Lynn Harriette Kay in Kansas City, Missouri, she began her career in regional theatre in St. Louis before moving to New York, where she appeared in off-Broadway productions from the 1970s and studied at Michael Howard Studios.
She made her screen debut in 1983 and accumulated over 100 film and television credits. Cohen was known for recurring roles as Magda in the HBO series Sex and the City (1998–2004) and the feature films Sex and the City (2008) and Sex and the City 2 (2010), and as Mags Flanagan in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013). Other notable appearances include Golda Meir in Munich (2005), The Station Agent (2003), Synecdoche, New York (2008) and Eagle Eye (2008). She also had a recurring role as Judge Elizabeth Mizener on Law & Order.
Cohen died in New York City on 14 February 2020.
