Robert Brady "Bob" Cochran II was born in Lake Forest, Illinois, on May 24, 1943.
Cochran earned a bachelor's degree in journalism and a master's degree in English from Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. He went on to the University of Toronto where he received his Ph.D. in English.
Cochran became a professor at the University of Arkansas in 1976. He has been a Fulbright lecturer in Romania, Hungary, and Korea. Cochran was a founding committee member and later the director for the Center for Arkansas and Regional Studies.
His publications include works in different media, including a biography of Vance Randolph for which he won the Elsie Clews Parsons Prize, a study of Samuel Beckett's short fiction, a biography on feminist and historian Louise Pound, and documentaries on Walter Williams and Frankie Kelley. Cochran and his wife, Suzanne McCray, coauthored Lights! Camera! Arkansas!: From Broncho Billy to Billy Bob Thornton, a compendium of movies with Arkansas connections. Cochran is the editor of The Arkansas Character series published by the University of Arkansas Press.
#1: Composite image of early photo of Bob Cochran and still frame from Pryor Center video interview; Fayetteville, Arkansas, 2016
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#2: Bob Cochran's father, Bob Cochran, New Cumberland, West Virgina, 1925
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#3: Bob Cochran with his mother, Virginia Ruth Gerwig Cochran, and his father, Robert B. Cochran, 1944
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#4: Bob Cochran with his maternal grandfather, Everett Gerwig (left), and paternal grandfather, Robert N. Cochran, ca. 1944
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#5: Bob Cochran with his father, Robert Cochran; Badlands, North Dakota, April 1949
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#6: Bob Cochran in Roosevelt School 2nd grade portrait; Bismarck, North Dakota, September 1950
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#7: Bob Cochran; Elkview, West Virginia, July 1951
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#8: Bob Cochran on his 8th birthday with his father, Robert Cochran; Bismarck, North Dakota, May 24, 1951
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#9: Bob Cochran with his grandfather's dog, Ladd; Elkview, West Virginia, 1951
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#10: Bob Cochran with a footlong hot dog from Kau Kau Korner; Honolulu, Hawaii, July 1952
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#11: Bob Cochran on Christmas day, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1952
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#12: Bob Cochran with his sister, Alison; Atlanta, Georgia, 1953
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#13: Bob Cochran; Muncie, Indiana, ca. 1958
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#14: Bob Cochran (back row, center) with the Burris Laboratory School National Honor Society; Muncie, Indiana, 1961
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#15: Bob Cochran (front row, second from left) with the Burris Laboratory School cross country team; Muncie, Indiana, 1961
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#16: Bob Cochran; Muncie, Indiana, ca. 1967
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#17: Bob Cochran; Larchmont, New York, ca. 1970
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#18: Bob Cochran with his children, Jo Shannon Cochran (Phillips) and Robert Malcolm "Bobby" Cochran; Muncie Indiana, ca. 1979
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#19: Bob Cochran (2nd from left) with Frank Soos, Milton Burke, and Richard Davis; Hogeye Marathon, Hogeye, Arkansas, ca. mid-1980s
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#20: Bob Cochran at the Eleventh Annual James Joyce Symposium where he delivered a paper; Venice, Italy, June 1988
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#21: Bob Cochran at a Buddhist shrine while a Fulbright scholar in Seoul, South Korea 1995
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#22: Bob Cochran (left) with Frankie Kelly; 1997
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#23: Bob Cochran (right) with Paul McCloud
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#24: Bob Cochran with track team members, Nikki Williams (on right) and other woman at Fayetteville High School; 1999
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#25: Bob Cochran teaching a class about blues music, Clear Spring School, Eureka Springs, Arkansas, 2000
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#26: Bob Cochran (left) with Martha Estes and Daniel Levine (seated), ca. 2000
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#27: Bob Cochran's wife, Suzanne, with their children (oldest to youngest), Masie, Jessie, and Taylor
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#28: Bob and Suzanne Cochran (right), with NAMA Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Sleepy LaBeef, and his wife, Linda; Northwest Arkansas Music Awards
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#29: Bob Cochran's son, Taylor
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#30: Bob Cochran's son, Bobby
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#31: Bob and Suzanne Cochran, 2009
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#32: Bob Cochran's daughter, Masie, with her grandmother, Ruth Gerwig Cochran, 2010
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#33: Bob and Suzanne Cochran with their children (l-r, from top), Bobby, Taylor, Jessie, Shannon, and Masie
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#34: Bob Cochran with his mother, Ruth Gerwig Cochran, and his siblings
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#35: Still frame from Pryor Center video interview with Bob Cochran; Fayetteville, Arkansas, 2016
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#36: Still frame from Pryor Center video interview with Bob Cochran; Fayetteville, Arkansas, 2016
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#37: Still frame from Pryor Center video interview with Bob Cochran; Fayetteville, Arkansas, 2016
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
