Maggie Cogan
Encyclopedia
Maggie Cogan is a resident of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 who became a minor celebrity in the early 1960s when she was the first female horse and carriage driver in Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...

, working for the Plaza Hotel
Plaza Hotel
The Plaza Hotel in New York City is a landmark 20-story luxury hotel with a height of and length of that occupies the west side of Grand Army Plaza, from which it derives its name, and extends along Central Park South in Manhattan. Fifth Avenue extends along the east side of Grand Army Plaza...

. She appeared in a 1967 Universal
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....

 newsreel
Newsreel
A newsreel was a form of short documentary film prevalent in the first half of the 20th century, regularly released in a public presentation place and containing filmed news stories and items of topical interest. It was a source of news, current affairs and entertainment for millions of moviegoers...

 with her horse and carriage, and in 1968, also appeared on quiz show What's My Line?
What's My Line?
What's My Line? is a panel game show which originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, with several international versions and subsequent U.S. revivals. The game tasked celebrity panelists with questioning contestants in order to determine their occupations....

, with contestants attempting to guess her occupation.

After leaving her career briefly in the 1960s, she resumed it in 1970, befriending Lisa Ryan, the daughter of actor Robert Ryan
Robert Ryan
Robert Bushnell Ryan was an American actor who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains.-Early life and career:...

, who had also become a horse-and-carriage driver. By this point, she had had 2 unsuccessful marriages and given birth to two sons, both of whom she gave up when her life began to unravel. In 1977, while living with Ryan, Cogan began to show signs of mental illness and she was eventually committed to a mental hospital by her parents.

Eventually, she became homeless when she left her career for good. Director Michel Negroponte discovered her living in Central Park and made the documentary film Jupiter's Wife about her.

Early life and career

Cogan was raised in a town near New York City, and in high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

, she was an active student, participating in cheerleading and dance clubs. After graduating, she briefly attended college, but left after one semester. At 19, she began a career with the Palace Hotel, becoming the first ever female Central Park carriage driver. In 1968, when the city announced that horse-drawn carriages would have to carry meters like taxicab
Taxicab
A taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice...

s, Cogan was quoted in the associated story in the New York Times, saying "Meters! It's ridiculous. In this country, they almost want to meter our minds. It'll be like Coney Island. Tawdry."

Collapse

In the late 1960s, Cogan's life began to unravel. She had two failed marriages, one of which produced two children. After showing increasing signs of being unable to cope with her failed relationships, she left her two children with her parents and moved to Texas for 4 years. Upon returning, she was unable to reclaim her children.

Cogan began to exhibit signs of increasing mental instability in the 1970s, while living with Ryan. She developed an infatuation with Ryan's father (actor Robert Ryan) and began sending him odd gifts, such as voodoo dolls attached to love notes. In 1977, she developed an additional infatuation with serial killer David Berkowitz
David Berkowitz
David Richard Berkowitz , also known as Son of Sam and the .44 Caliber Killer, is an American serial killer and arsonist whose crimes terrorized New York City from July 1976 until his arrest in August 1977.Shortly after his arrest in August 1977, Berkowitz confessed to killing six people and...

 and in the same year was mugged
Robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....

 on the street, with her attacker slashing her face. According to Ryan, "For the rest of the summer she barricaded herself in her bedroom and wouldn't come out."

By the end of the summer, Ryan and Cogan were scheduled to move out of their shared apartment. Cogan's parents arrived, moved her out, and committed her to a mental hospital
Mental Hospital
Mental hospital may refer to:*Psychiatric hospital*hospital in Nepal named Mental Hospital...

.

Homelessness

After losing her job as a carriage driver, Cogan became homeless, living most of the next 15 years in Central Park. To help herself deal with reality, she concocted vivid stories about herself, claiming that SHE was, in fact, Robert Ryan's daughter. She also claimed to have Extra Sensory Perception. However, her charm and wit helped her make friends who helped feed and clothe her during this period. She also developed a deep love for animals, adopting several dogs and living with them.

Jupiter's Wife

In 1989, Michel Negroponte was attempting to make a documentary about his childhood in Central Park when he encountered Cogan and decided to make the film about her instead. He filmed Cogan throughout 1989 until the end of 1991, showing her with her dogs, with friends, moving around Central Park, attending a gymnastics class that was taught by one of her friends, etc.

By the end of the film, a small abandoned maintenance shack she had been living in with her dogs during the winter had been raided and demolished by police and sanitation workers. However, after being able to receive public assistance due to her mental condition, she was able to move into an apartment. The film won a special jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...

.

Later life

In 1995, Cogan, who had been evicted from her apartment, moved in with friend Sara Whalen, who ran a shelter for abused and abandoned pets.
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