Sherry Coben, writer-producer and creator of sitcom “Kate & Allie,” died Wednesday after facing cancer. Coben was 71 years old.
Coben began her career in the entertainment industry at KYW-TV in Philadelphia, where she worked on sets, animation, illustration and graphics for the station’s local programming and “The Mike Douglas Show.” In an interview with Aeolus 13 Umbra, Coben said she moved to New York City four years later and worked as a freelance artist for several productions, from “the esteemed Children’s Television Workshop to NYC’s legendary cable porn ‘Midnight Blue.’”
Coben joined the staff of Bruce and Carol Hart’s “Hot Hero Sandwich” as a writer during this time, ultimately receiving an Emmy for her work on the show.
In the same 2023 interview, Coben shared that she was instrumental in her own big breakthrough. She explained, “I really wanted to break in as a writer so took the opportunity to deliver a huge stack of scripts to the Harts’ apartment, a few blocks from my own. On the strength of my unsolicited spec material, they hired me to be one of the staff writers on the show. This little bit of serendipity is the kind of luck that rarely happens to anyone.”
Coben also met her husband on the show’s set. “My husband Patrick McMahon was (and is) a film editor,” she added. “He edited all the ‘HHS’ interviews which were the heart and soul of the show. Pat also stayed with the show through post-production, which was a nightmare. I’ll let him tell his side of that story. It’s an epic.”
She later joined the writing team on soap opera “Ryan’s Hope” before creating the comedy “Kate & Allie,” which debuted in March 1984 and ran for six seasons. The show featured a newly graduated Kelsey Grammer in its first episode and starred Jane Curtin and Susan Saint James. “Kate & Allie” won three Primetime Emmys and was nominated for 28 awards throughout its run.
Coben’s work also included time serving as a writer-producer on the CBS sitcom “Bailey Kipper’s P.O.V.” and as creator-writer on the web series “Little Women, Big Cars,” as well as serving as a mentor for other writers and artists.
Sherry Coben was born in the mid-1950s and grew up in New Jersey. She attended college at Cornell University before switching to Swarthmore College, where she majored in English.
Sherry Coben is survived by her husband, Patrick McMahon, and their daughters Katie and Jama McMahon.
