In 1950, Cowan staged the first celebrity charity-fundraiser, a golf tournament on behalf of motion picture director Frank Borzage. Rogers was the first agent to actively solicit public support for his client's nomination for an Academy Award, starting with Joan Crawford's performance in 1945's "Mildred Pierce"; she won Best Actress. In 1997, Cowan personally introduced Italian actor Roberto Benigni to his already famous American peers, all of them Cowan clients and Academy voters, on behalf of Miramax. Benigni and his picture, "Life Is Beautiful", won three Oscars that year.