Otto Hermann Kahn Otto Hermann Kahn Otto Hermann Kahn (February 21, 1867 – March 29, 1934) was a German-born American investment banker, collector, philanthropist, and patron of the arts. Otto was born on February 21, 1867 in Mannheim, Germany, and raised there, by his Jewish parents, Emma (née Eberstadt) and Bernard Kahn. His father had been among the refugees to the United States after the revolution of 1848 and had become an American citizen, but later returned to Germany. Kahn was educated in a gymnasium in Mannheim. Kahn's ambition was to be a musician, and he learned to play several instruments before he
James Kahn E.T.'s death. While on the set, Kahn gave a copy of his novel, "World Enough, and Time", to Spielberg – which resulted in Kahn getting the assignment to novelize the movie "Poltergeist", then in post-production. Kahn did several more novelizations after that – "Return of the Jedi", "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom", "The Goonies" and "Poltergeist II". During this period he also began to get television work, writing first for "St. Elsewhere", and later, "E/R" – a sitcom about an emergency department starring Elliott Gould and Mary MacDonald, in which Kahn created the character of a teen orderly