Biography for
John Frankenheimer More at IMDb Pro »

Date of Birth

19 February 1930, New York City, New York, USA

Date of Death

6 July 2002, Los Angeles, California, USA (stroke due to complications following spinal surgery)

Birth Name

John Michael Frankenheimer

Height

6' 3" (1.91 m)

Mini Biography

Born in New York and raised in Queens, John Frankenheimer wanted to become a professional tennis player. He loved movies and his favorite actor was Robert Mitchum. He decided he wanted to be an actor but then he applied for and was accepted in the Motion Picture Squadron of the Air Force where he realized his natural talent to handle a camera. After his military discharge he began a TV career in 1953 convincing CBS to hire him as an assistant director, which consisted mainly working as a cameraman at that time. He eventually started to direct the show he was working on as an assistant director. Frankenheimer still didn't want to direct films. He liked to direct live television, and he would have continued to do it if the profession itself hadn't cease to exist. He first turned to the big screen with The Young Stranger (1957) which he hated to do because he thought he didn't understand movies and wasn't used to work with only one camera. Disappointed his with first feature film experience he returned to his successful television career directing a total of 152 live television shows between 1954 and 1960. He took another chance to move to the cinema industry, working with Burt Lancaster in The Young Savages (1961) ending up becoming a successful filmmaker best known by expressing on films his views on important social and philosophical topics.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Hugo Lopes

Spouse

Evans Evans	(13 December 1963 - 6 July 2002) (his death)
Carolyn Miller	(22 September 1954 - 1962) (divorced) 2 children

Trade Mark

Films set in France

Unusual camera angles and blocking techniques.

Trivia

When Senator Robert F. Kennedy was shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968, it was his good friend John Frankenheimer who had personally driven him there that day.

Children: daughters Elise and Kristi. Kristi is a Location Manager of 20+ years and worked with her father on several projects including his last, Path to War (2002) (TV), for HBO.

Was fluent in French.

Served in the U. S. Air Force.

Was approached by Albert R. Broccoli to screen test for the role of James Bond in Dr. No (1962) (Frankenheimer began his career as an actor).

Inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 2002.

Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945-1985." Pages 365-372. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988.

As a director on the "You Are There" (1953) TV series, he was supervised by fellow director Sidney Lumet.

Directed the television debuts of Sir John Gielgud and Ingrid Bergman in "The Browning Version" episode for "The DuPont Show of the Month" (1957) and The Turn of the Screw (1959/I) (TV), respectively.

Directed 140 live television dramas for "Studio One" (1948), "Playhouse 90" (1956), "The DuPont Show of the Month" (1957) and other showcase anthologies.

Famous for his use of innovative camera angles, Frankenheimer was acclaimed for a shot in The Manchurian Candidate (1962) that is slightly out of focus. Frankenheimer said that the shot was an accident.

When Burt Lancaster walked onto the set the first day of shooting of The Young Savages (1961), he was startled and dismayed to see the camera on the floor, aiming upward. Lancaster had never before worked with a director who used such innovative camera angles. He grew to trust Frankenhiemer, and they made four more films together.

The camera-work of most directors in "The Golden Age" of TV drama was static, reflecting most TV directors' backgrounds in the theater, who typically used blocking more appropriate for a stage production. Frankenhiemer was one of the first TV directors to use multiple camera angles, a moving camera, quick editing, and close-ups.

Directed "For Whom The Bell Tolls" for "Playhouse 90" (1956), one of the first showcase dramas to be presented in two parts and on tape. The production, which cost $400,000, was the most expensive TV show at that time (1959).

One of his biggest dreams when he started directing was to work with a concert orchestra. He eventually did it twice, in Prophecy (1979) and The Holcroft Covenant (1985).

Is portrayed by Don Galloway in Rock Hudson (1990) (TV).

Had been working on directing Exorcist: The Beginning (2004) at the time of his death.

Grandson Dylan.

Directed six actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Burt Lancaster, Telly Savalas, Thelma Ritter, Angela Lansbury, Edmond O'Brien, and Alan Bates.

Was originally set to direct Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) with Marilyn Monroe on the leading role.

Personal Quotes

"It's very eclectic, the way one chooses subjects in the movie business, especially in the commercial movie business. You need to develop material yourself or material is presented to you as an assignment to direct."

"I feel that my job is to create an atmosphere where creative people can do their best work. In other words, I have to create an atmosphere where these people feel safe, where they feel respected, and where they feel that they can contribute."

There are two things I will never do in my life. I will never climb Mount Everest, and I will never work with Val Kilmer again. There isn't enough money in the world. - in Premiere magazine, April 1997. (Frankenheimer directed the 1996 film The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996), which starred Val Kilmer, with whom he reportedly had personal differences.)

On referring to Val Kilmer and his personal feelings about him while making The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996): Will Rogers never met Val Kilmer.

No one ever looked like Burt Lancaster in "The Crimson Pirate." [on the impressive physique of friend Lancaster]

[on Kirk Douglas] He's wanted to be Burt Lancaster all his life.

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