Andrew Cockburn Biography: Awards, Age, Books, Wife, Ethnicity, Movies, Children, Net Worth

Andrew Cockburn is a British journalist, author, and documentary film producer whose reputation is closely tied to national-security reporting and long-form investigations into how modern warfare is funded and fought.

He is widely known as the Washington editor of Harper’s Magazine, and his profile has grown through books such as Kill Chain, which examined the U.S. drone program and the systems behind targeted killing, as well as through film work that includes the feature The Peacemaker and the documentary American Casino.

Profile

• Full name: Andrew Myles Cockburn
• Date of birth: January 7, 1947
• Age: 79 years old
• Gender: Male
• Place of birth: Willesden, Middlesex, England
• Nationality: British
• Profession: Journalist, author, editor, documentary producer
• Parents: Claud Cockburn (father), Patricia Evangeline Anne Cockburn (née Arbuthnot) (mother)
• Siblings: Alexander Cockburn, Patrick Cockburn, Sarah Cockburn (Sarah Caudwell), Claudia Cockburn
• Spouse: Leslie Corkhill Redlich Cockburn
• Children: Chloe Frances Cockburn, Olivia Jane Cockburn (Olivia Wilde), Charles Philip Cockburn
• Relationship status: Married
• Religion: Christian
• Ethnicity: British
• Net worth: $3 million

Early Life and Education

Andrew Cockburn is now 78 years old. He was born on January 7, 1947, in Willesden, Middlesex, England, and he spent much of his upbringing in County Cork, Ireland, after his family relocated there.

His father, Claud Cockburn, was a journalist and political writer, and his mother, Patricia Cockburn (née Arbuthnot), was also known for her writing and wide-ranging interests.

He has four siblings including Alexander Cockburn, Patrick Cockburn, Sarah Cockburn (Sarah Caudwell), and Claudia Cockburn. Cockburn’s education included Glenalmond College in Perthshire, Scotland, followed by Worcester College, Oxford.

Personal Life

Andrew Cockburn married fellow journalist Leslie Corkhill Redlich in 1977 in San Francisco, beginning a partnership that became professional as well as personal.

Over the years, the two have repeatedly worked on overlapping subjects and shared bylines and production credits, often focusing on foreign policy, intelligence, and the real-world effects of war and government decisions.

They have three children: Chloe Frances Cockburn, Olivia Jane Cockburn (better known as actress Olivia Wilde), and Charles Philip Cockburn. Chloe has been described publicly as a lawyer and an advocate for criminal-justice reform, while Olivia became widely known through film and television acting and later directing.

Career

Andrew Cockburn built his career around reporting that treats national power as a system to be audited rather than a story to be celebrated. After early work in British newspapers and television, he moved to the United States in 1979 and later became the Washington editor of Harper’s Magazine, a role closely associated with his continuing output on defense, intelligence, and U.S. foreign policy.

His filmmaking reinforced his standing as an investigator with a camera as well as a pen. In 1981 he worked on The Red Army for PBS, a project recognized with a Peabody Award. He and his wife later produced Frontline work, including The War We Left Behind, and they brought their reporting into commercial cinema as co-producers of The Peacemaker, a studio thriller connected to their reporting on nuclear security.

In 2009, he produced American Casino, a documentary that examined the financial crash and its effects on ordinary lives and premiered in the Tribeca Film Festival lineup.

As an author, Cockburn’s books have largely tracked the intersection of policy, military technology, and money. His work has covered Soviet and U.S. military realities, covert relationships and intelligence operations, the influence of Pentagon spending, and the rise of high-tech methods of warfare.

Titles such as The Threat, Dangerous Liaison, One Point Safe, Rumsfeld, Kill Chain, and The Spoils of War are often cited as the clearest map of those long-running concerns.

Awards and Nominations

• Peabody Award (The Red Army) (1981)

Net Worth

Andrew Cockburn’s net worth is estimated at $3 million, based on decades of paid journalism and editorial work, book advances and royalties from multiple published titles, documentary production income, and producer credits on projects that reached major outlets and distributors.

Social Media

• Twitter/X: @andrewmcockburn

Filmography

• The Red Army (1981)
• The War We Left Behind (1991)
• The Peacemaker (1997)
• American Casino (2009)

Books

• The Threat: Inside the Soviet Military Machine (1984)
• Dangerous Liaison: The Inside Story of the U.S.-Israeli Covert Relationship (1991)
• One Point Safe (1997)
• Out of the Ashes: The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein (1999)
• Rumsfeld: His Rise, Fall, and Catastrophic Legacy (2007)
• Kill Chain: Drones and the Rise of High-Tech Assassins (2015)
• The Spoils of War: Power, Profit and the American War Machine (2021)