PHOTOS: The life of Bobby Lee Cook

Georgia News

PHOTOS: The life of Bobby Lee Cook

Images from the life of legendary Georgia lawyer Bobby Lee Cook, who once defended Wayne Williams and who was rumored to be the real-life inspiration for the fictional character "Matlock."

Attorney Bobby Lee Cook, seen here in his Summerville office in 1984, represented hundreds of accused murderers over his career, which began in the late 1940s. His clever maneuvers in court, combined with a gentlemanly charm, made him perhaps Georgia's most famous attorney and may have inspired a classic television character. (AJC Archive at GSU Library / AJCP377-034c)

Cook, seen here with his signature pipe in 1991, grew up outside of Summerville in a house with no running water. After a short stint in the Navy, Cook won a seat in the Georgia House of Representatives at age 21. He would also serve in the Georgia Senate before turning to his legal career in earnest. (DIANE LAAKSO / AJC file) (DIANE LAAKSO / THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION)

Cook's career as a trial lawyer spanned more than six decades, taking clients both well-heeled and downtrodden. In the 1950s, he was one of the few lawyers in Georgia willing to represent unions at a time when labor groups were considered to be Communist. Years later, he explained why he became a lawyer: "I was convinced that it would give me the opportunity to do something good for people and to be in an area where rights had been deprived for many people over such a period of time." (BILL RANKIN / AJC file)

Cook talks to suspected murderer Keller Wilcox's wife Sonja. Wilcox, a prominent Valdosta businessman, was convicted during a 1982 trial of killing Hellen Griffin Hanks. The state contended Wilcox carried out the murder because Hanks had resisted his sexual advances. (AJC file)

Defense attorneys Cook, right, and Wilby Coleman, representing murder suspect Keller Wilcox, arrive at Lowndes County Superior Court in Valdosta, in 1981. Over his decades as a trial lawyer, Cook became well-known — and feared — because of his menacing, caustic and theatrical cross-examinations. During a 1991 interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Cook said: "There's a time and a place to be genteel. Church. Weddings. Funerals. Be genteel there. But not in court." (NANCY MANGIAFICO / AJC file)

Attorney Bobby Lee Cook poses for a portrait in his office in 1981. Former Gov. Roy Barnes, who tried numerous cases with Cook, said of him, "When he entered a courtroom, his personality just envoloped it. ... In many ways, he was larger than life." (FLOYD EDWIN JILLSON / AJC file)

During their 1986 attempt to win a new trial for Wayne Williams, Cook and other defense team members alleged that Ku Klux Klan members were resposible for one of the Atlanta child murders. (STEVE DEAL / AJC file)

In 1989, Bobby Lee Cook defended Alice Herring, a Chattooga County chicken farmer accused of the murder of her one-time boyfriend. "If there ever was a criminal case that justifies a quick and immediate verdict of not guilty, it is in this instance," Cook had said during closing arguments. After two hours of deliberation, a jury found her not guilty. (MICHAEL BARRETT / Special)

Bobby Lee Cook walks along the beach near his summer home in Sea Island in 1991. "A good lawyer and a law student hoping to be a good lawyer needs to exude a hell of a lot of credibility in dealing with a court and in dealing with a jury," Cook once said in an interview with The Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame. (DIANNE LAAKSO / AJC file)

Cook stands outside the federal courthouse in Atlanta in 1994. In a story that's hard to completely verify, a state witness during a criminal trial testified he was certain how many shots he heard the defendant fire with the murder weapon. So Cook arranged for a friend outside the courthouse to fire off a few rounds during the trial. When questioned by Cook, the state witness could not say how many shots Cook's friend had fired. Cook's client was acquitted. (WILLIAM BERRY / AJC file)

It's long been believed — and widely reported — that the TV series 'Matlock' starring Andy Griffith, right, was modeled after Bobby Lee Cook, at left in 1994. However, the co-executive producer of the show, Dean Hargrove, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 1991 that was not the case. "At the time we were developing the program, I hadn't heard of Cook," he said. Still, there are striking similarities between the two: their attire, their success in the courtroom and the fact both liked to lunch on hot dogs while trying a case. (Left: Lynne Sladky / AP file)

During the 1997 murder trial of Atlanta lawyer Fred Tokars, Cook celebrated his 70th birthday. During a lunch break in the trial, Cook's friends and family held a surprise birthday party for him at Susie's Sunset Cafe near the Walker County Courthouse. At Susie's, it's a tradition to get 'mooned,' so Cook was honored with a moon pie, complete with a birthday candle on it, and a 'I got mooned at Susie's' T-shirt. Shown here with Cook (center) are Susie Cannon, standing left, the owner of Susie's Sunset Cafe, and standing right is waitress Lynn Ridley. Seated next to Mr. Cook at left is his daughter, Kristina Cook Graham, now chief judge of the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit. The man on the right, seated, is Ed Moriarity, another member of the Tokars defense team. (ANDY SHARP / AJC file)

Former State Bar of Georgia president Lester Tate, left, helps Cook celebrate his 90th birthday in 2015. Cook once said, "The cross-examination is the greatest legal engine that's ever been devised for the discovery of the truth. I also believe that cross-examination in and of itself is almost the bulwark of liberty and justice." (Contributed photo)

Bobby Lee Cook is shown at the hearing for his daughter Kristina Cook Graham in the Chattooga County Courthouse Superior Court Tuesday morning in Summerville in 2016. (ZACHARY D. PORTER/ Daily Report)

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Attorney Bobby Lee Cook, seen here in his Summerville office in 1984, represented hundreds of accused murderers over his career, which began in the late 1940s. His clever maneuvers in court, combined with a gentlemanly charm, made him perhaps Georgia's most famous attorney and may have inspired a classic television character. (AJC Archive at GSU Library / AJCP377-034c)

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