The Hollywood film director, John Frankenheimer, whose works included such classics as
The Manchurian Candidate and Birdman of Alcatraz, has died at the age of 72.
Frankenheimer, whose career in both films and television spanned nearly five decades, was nominated for 14 Emmy Awards and was perhaps best known as a master of films about dark government conspiracies.
He died on Saturday of a stroke due to complications following spinal surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
"John Frankenheimer chose a camera as his form of expression. For those of us who love movies, thank God he did," former Paramount and MGM head Frank Mancuso Sr. said.
"His passionate commitment to filmmaking provided the world with many treasures."
"Full bore. You gotta give it everything... and sometimes that's not even enough," Frankenheimer said in an interview with the Associate Press agency in 1998.
Political thrillers
A native New Yorker, Frankenheimer had his first taste of film making with the Motion Picture Squadron of the US Air Force.
Frankenheimer ran into personal difficulties in the 1960s
His career began properly in 1953 when he walked into the CBS office in New York and persuaded network officials to give him a job as an assistant director.
He first came to prominence in 1961 with the film The Young Savages, with Burt Lancaster.
The following year, he worked with Lancaster again in the Birdman of Alcatraz, which told the story of a death row inmate who became a world expert on birds.
But perhaps Frankenheimer's most enduring work was The Manchurian Candidate (1962).
This was the story of a decorated veteran of the Korean war whose brain was altered in a detention camp to program him to kill a liberal politician.
Its timing was perfect - it was still in circulation during the 1963 assassination of President John F Kennedy.
Frankenheimer continued to build on the theme of dark government conspiracies.
He later directed Seven Days in May, in which American military leaders plot to overthrow the president.
He also produced a string of 152 live television dramas in the 1950s.
'Solace in the bottle'
A close friend of President Kennedy, Frankenheimer was deeply shaken by his death and ran into some personal difficulties, including a drinking problem.
"It took a toll on me. And the state of mind you're in when have a problem like that, even when you're not drunk, is the most dangerous time," he admitted in an interview to New York Times in 1998.
"Because you make decisions that are not totally in your best interest - about your life, about your career choices and everything."
Frankenheimer returned to television with the HBO network the 1990s and directed such highly acclaimed production as Against the Wall,
The Burning Season, Andersonville and George Wallace.
His later movies included Ronin (1998) and Reindeer Games (2000).
His next project was to be a prequel to The Exorcist.
John Frankenheimer's films have always reflected his views on important social and philosophical topics. Birdman of Alcatraz and The Fixer explore the indomitability of the human spirit.
Seven Days In May details the anatomy of a military coup. The Manchurian Candidate is an indictment of the McCarthy era. The Train questions whether a work of art is more important than human life.
Black Sunday and Year of the Gun confront one of the modern world's most distressing dilemmas, international terrorism.
Frankenheimer's films also reveal the care and integrity with which he composes each frame, his trademark mastery of the steadicam and dolly, and his signature shot: wide-angle compositions in which actors fill both foreground and background with tremendous depth and focus. Frankenheimer's cameras have ridden on Grand Prix racing cars, trains and motorcycles; have been knocked around in riots; and lingered over love scenes. He is equally adept at intimate, psychological films, such as
All Fall Down and The Iceman Cometh, and action-oriented pictures, including Grand Prix, Gypsy Moths, Black Sunday, Against the Wall and
Andersonville.
Frankenheimer's first experiences in movie-making came in the Air Force, when he directed documentaries while stationed in Burbank, California. In 1953, Frankenheimer talked his way into CBS in New York as an assistant director. Starting with the weather and news, he soon worked his way onto such shows as
Person to Person, See It Now, Danger and You Are There. Within a year and a half of his discharge from the Air Force, Frankenheimer was one of the two directors of the weekly
Climax! dramatic series, and eventually helmed 42 episodes of the fabled Playhouse 90 anthology series.
Between Playhouse 90 and two other anthology showcases, Frankenheimer directed 152 live television dramas between 1954 and 1960, averaging one every two weeks. His work during this period includes
The Last Tycoon (starring Jack Palance), For Whom the Bell Tolls (Jason Robards, Maureen Stapleton and Eli Wallach), The Comedian (Mickey Rooney, Kim Stanley and Mel Torme), the original
Days of Wine and Roses (Cliff Robertson and Piper Laurie), Old Man (Geraldine Page and Sterling Hayden), The Turn of the Screw (Ingrid Bergman),
Face of a Hero (Jack Lemmon) and The Browning Version, featuring Sir John Gielgud's first television appearance. The Academy of Television Arts and Science honored Frankenheimer with six consecutive Emmyฎ nominations during this period, and Radio and Television Daily twice voted him Best Director.
Frankenheimer turned to the feature screen full-time in 1956. It wasn't until 1993 that he returned to his television roots, to direct Against the
Wall, which won him the Emmyฎ for Best Director. In 1994, he directed and produced The Burning Season, winning a second Emmyฎ for Best Director and three Golden Globes: Best Motion Picture for Television; Best Actor, Raul Julia; and Best Supporting Actor, Edward James Olmos. He won his third consecutive Best Director Emmyฎ for
Andersonville in 1996.
Also in 1996, the Museum of Modern Art and Museum of Television & Radio in New York hosted, for the first time in their histories, a joint retrospective of Frankenheimer's film and television work. The distinguished film critic Charles Champlin authored Frankenheimer's professional biography, John Frankenheimer: A Conversation With Charles Champlin. The book was commissioned by the Director's Guild of America and published by Riverwood Press in May 1995.
Trivia: When Senator Robert 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.
Quote: "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."
Little Known: John Frankenheimer portrayed "General Sonnenberg" in 1999's
"The General's Daughter"
Biography courtesy of IMDB; used with permission:
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 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 ending up becoming a successful filmmaker best known by expressing on films his views on important social and philosophical topics.
Filmography:
Director:
Path to War (2002 TV movie)
Ambush (2001 short)
Reindeer Games (2000)
Ronin (1998)
George Wallace (1997 TV movie)
The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996)
Andersonville (1996 TV movie)
The Burning Season (1994 TV movie)
Against the Wall (1994 TV documentary)
Year of the Gun (1991)
The Fourth War (1990)
Tales from the Crypt (1989 TV series) - (episode "Maniac at Large")
Dead Bang (1989)
Riviera (1987 TV movie) - (as Alan Smithee)
52 Pick-Up (1986)
The Holcroft Covenant (1985)
The Rainmaker (1982 TV movie)
The Challenge (1982)
Prophecy (1979)
Black Sunday (1977)
French Connection II (1975)
99 and 44/100% Dead (1974)
Story of a Love Story (1973)
The Iceman Cometh (1973)
The Horsemen (1971)
I Walk the Line (1970)
The Extraordinary Seaman (1969)
The Gypsy Moths (1969)
The Fixer (1968)
Grand Prix (1966)
Seconds (1966)
The Train (1964)
Seven Days in May (1964)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
All Fall Down (1962)
The Young Savages (1961)
The Turn of the Screw (1959 TV movie)
The Browning Version (1959 TV movie)
The Comedian (1957 TV movie)
The Young Stranger (1957)
The Ninth Day (1956 TV movie)
Playhouse 90 (1956 TV series)
Climax! (1954 TV series)
You Are There (1953 TV series)
Danger (1950 TV series)
AWARDS and NOMINATIONS
Bodil Awards
1965
Won, Bodil
Best Non-European Film (Bedste ikke-europๆiske film) for Seven Days in May (1964)
Cannes Film Festival
1966
Nominated, Golden Palm
for Seconds (1966)
Casting Society of America, USA
1998
Won, Lifetime Achievement Award
Deauville Film Festival
1991
Nominated, Critics Award
for Year of the Gun (1991)
Directors Guild of America, USA
1998
Nominated, DGA Award
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Specials for George Wallace (1997)
1997
Nominated, DGA Award
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Specials for Andersonville (1996)
1995
Nominated, DGA Award
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Specials for Against the Wall (1994)
Emmy Awards
1998
Won, Emmy
Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries or a Movie for George Wallace (1997)
Nominated, Emmy
Outstanding Miniseries for George Wallace (1997)
Award Shared With: Mark Carliner (executive producer), Julian Krainin, Ethel Winant (co-producer), Mitch Engel (line producer), James Sbardellati (line producer)
1996
Won, Emmy
Outstanding Individual Achievement in Directing for a Miniseries or a Special for Andersonville (1996)
Nominated, Emmy
Outstanding Miniseries for Andersonville (1996)
Award Shared With: Ethel Winant (executive producer), David W. Rintels, Diane Batson-Smith (co-producer)
1995
Won, Emmy
Outstanding Individual Achievement in Directing for a Miniseries or a Special for The Burning Season (1994)
Nominated, Emmy
Outstanding Made for Television Movie for The Burning Season (1994)
Award Shared With: David Puttnam (executive producer), Thomas M. Hammel
1994
Won, Emmy
Outstanding Individual Achievement in Directing for a Miniseries or a Special for Against the Wall (1994)
1956
Nominated, Emmy
Best Director - Live Series for Climax! (1954)
For episode "Portrait in Celluloid".
Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival
1998
Won, President Award
Robert Wise Director of Distinction
Golden Globes, USA
1965
Nominated, Golden Globe
Best Motion Picture Director for Seven Days in May (1964)
Hollywood Film Festival
2001
Won, Hollywood Discovery Award
Outstanding Achievement in Directing
Laurel Awards
1971
Nominated, Golden Laurel
Best Director
4th place.
1970
Nominated, Golden Laurel
Director
4th place.
1968
Nominated, Golden Laurel
Director
7th place.
1967
Nominated, Golden Laurel
Director
6th place.
1966
Nominated, Golden Laurel
Director
10th place.
1963
Nominated, Golden Laurel
Top Director
6th place.
Mystfest
1994
Won, Special Jury Award
For his whole works.
Nominated, Best Film
for Against the Wall (1994)
1985
Nominated, Best Film
for The Holcroft Covenant (1985)
National Board of Review, USA
1999
Won, Billy Wilder Award
Razzie Awards
1997
Nominated, Razzie Award
Worst Director for The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996)
San Diego World Film Festival
1998
Won, Lifetime Achievement Award
Venice Film Festival
1962
Nominated, Golden Lion
for Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
Video Premiere Awards
2001
Nominated, Video Premiere Award
Best Internet Video Premiere for Ambush (2001)
BMWFilms.com.
The Hollywood film director, John Frankenheimer, whose works included such classics as
The Manchurian Candidate and Birdman of Alcatraz, has died at the age of 72. 
