 His brother was Frederick Kohner, a novelist and screenwriter, his daughter was the actress Susan Kohner.His grandsons are the filmmakers, Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz.Kohner was born to a Jewish family in Teplitz-Schönau, Austria-Hungary (now Teplice, Czech Republic), which at the time of his birth was called Teplitz-Schönau through the merger of two towns, Teplitz and Lázně Šanov (Schönau).