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Benjamin Franklin
Also known as	The Lives of Benjamin Franklin
Genre	Biography Drama History
Written by	Howard Fast Loring Mandel
Directed by	Glenn Jordan
Starring	Willie Aames Eddie Albert Beau Bridges Melvyn Douglas Richard Widmark
Theme music composer	Billy Goldenberg
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	4
Production
Executive producer	Lewis Freedman
Producers	Glenn Jordan George Lefferts
Running time	360 minutes
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	November 21, 1974 (1974-11-21) – January 28, 1975 (1975-01-28)

The Lives of Benjamin Franklin is a 1974 American television miniseries that chronicles the life of Benjamin Franklin.

The series was broadcast by CBS and won five Emmy Awards, including the award for Outstanding Limited Series.^[1] Howard Fast won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for the first installment (The Ambassador). Glenn Jordan was also nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for The Ambassador episode, and Loring Mandel was nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for The Whirlwind episode.^[2]

The four 90-minute episodes^[3] debuted on November 21 and December 17, 1974, and January 9 and 28, 1975.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]

Cast

[edit]

Willie Aames as Franklin at age 12
Beau Bridges as Franklin the young man
Eddie Albert as Franklin the diplomat
Richard Widmark as Franklin the rebel
Melvyn Douglas as Franklin the elder statesman

References

[edit]

^ Scott, Vernon (20 May 1975). Mary's show most popular, Desert Sun, p. A-2 (UPI content)
^ Emmys.com listings, emmys.com, Retrieved 14 September 2020
^ (1 September 1974). Specials for the season, San Bernardino Sun
^ O'Connor, John J. (21 November 1974). TV: Sly, Amusing Benjamin Franklin, The New York Times, p. 95.
^ O'Connor, John J. (17 December 1974). TV: CBS Dramas on Ben Franklin Going Smoothly, The New York Times, p, 75.
^ O'Connor, John J. (28 January 1975). TV: Enlightening Study of Franklin Ends Tonight, The New York Times, p. 67.
^ Gardella, Kay (21 November 1974). Ben Franklin Star of Bicentennial Series, New York Daily News, p. 59.
^ *31 July 1974). Get a Line on the Real Ben, Indianapolis News (details of upcoming series; incorrectly reports that Franklin had 13 illegitimate children, a common false tale)

External links

[edit]

The Lives of Benjamin Franklin at IMDb
Charles Lisanby on designing the sets for the miniseries Benjamin Franklin (video), televisionacademy.com

v t e Benjamin Franklin
President of Pennsylvania (1785–1788) Ambassador to France (1779–1785) Second Continental Congress (1775–1776)
Founding of the United States	Join, or Die. (1754 political cartoon) Albany Plan of Union Albany Congress Hutchinson letters affair Committee of Secret Correspondence Committee of Five "...to be self-evident" Declaration of Independence Model Treaty Franco-American alliance Treaty of Amity and Commerce Treaty of Alliance Staten Island Peace Conference 1776 Pennsylvania Constitution Libertas Americana Treaty of Paris, 1783 Delegate, 1787 Constitutional Convention Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly Postmaster General Founding Fathers
Inventions, other events	Franklin's electrostatic machine Bifocals Franklin stove Glass armonica Gulf Stream exploration, naming, and chart Lightning rod Kite experiment Pay it forward Associators 111th Infantry Regiment Junto club American Philosophical Society Library Company of Philadelphia Pennsylvania Hospital Academy and College of Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia Contributionship Union Fire Company Early American currency Continental Currency dollar coin Fugio cent United States Postal Service Street lighting President, Pennsylvania Abolition Society Master, Les Neuf Sœurs Gravesite
Writings	The Papers of Benjamin Franklin Founders Online Silence Dogood letters (1722) A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain (1725) The Busy-Body columns (1729) The Pennsylvania Gazette (1729–1790) Early American publishers and printers Poor Richard's Almanack (1732–1758) The Drinker's Dictionary (1737) "Advice to a Friend on Choosing a Mistress" (1745) "The Speech of Polly Baker" (1747) Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, etc. (1751) Experiments and Observations on Electricity (1751) Birch letters (1755) The Way to Wealth (1758) Pennsylvania Chronicle (1767) Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One (1773) Proposed alliance with the Iroquois (1775) A Letter to a Royal Academy (1781) Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America (1784) "The Morals of Chess" (1786) An Address to the Public (1789) A Plan for Improving the Condition of the Free Blacks (1789) The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1771–1790, pub. 1791) Bagatelles and Satires (pub. 1845) Franklin as a journalist Franklin's phonetic alphabet
Legacy	Bibliography Franklin Court Benjamin Franklin House Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology Benjamin Franklin Parkway Benjamin Franklin National Memorial Franklin Institute awards medal Benjamin Franklin Medal Royal Society of Arts medal Depicted in The Apotheosis of Washington Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence Treaty of Paris (1783 painting) Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky (1816 painting) Revolutionary War Door Boston statue Chicago statue Columbus, Ohio, statue University of Pennsylvania statue Portland, Oregon, statue San Francisco statue Stanford University statue Washington D.C. statue Jefferson Memorial pediment Refunding Certificate Franklin half dollar One-hundred-dollar bill Franklin silver dollar Washington–Franklin stamps other stamps Cities, counties, schools named for Franklin Benjamin Franklin College Franklin Field Mount Franklin State of Franklin Sons of Ben (Philadelphia Union) Ships named USS Franklin Ben Franklin effect
In popular culture	Ben and Me (1953 short) Ben Franklin in Paris (1964 musical play) 1776 (1969 musical 1972 film) Benjamin Franklin (miniseries) (1972) A More Perfect Union (1989 film) Liberty! (1997 documentary series) Liberty's Kids (2002 animated series) Benjamin Franklin (2002 documentary series) John Adams (2008 miniseries) Sons of Liberty (2015 miniseries) Benjamin Franklin (2022 documentary) Franklin (2024 miniseries)
Related	Age of Enlightenment American Enlightenment The New-England Courant The American Museum magazine American Revolution patriots Syng inkstand
Family	Deborah Read (wife) William Franklin (son) Francis Franklin (son) Sarah Franklin Bache (daughter) William Franklin (grandson) Benjamin F. Bache (grandson) Louis F. Bache (grandson) Richard Bache Jr. (grandson) Andrew Harwood (great-grandson) Alexander Bache (great-grandson) Josiah Franklin (father) James Franklin (brother) Jane Mecom (sister) Mary Morrell Folger (grandmother) Peter Folger (grandfather) Richard Bache (son-in-law) Ann Smith Franklin (sister-in-law)
Category

v t e Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series
1970s	Tom Brown's Schooldays (1973) Columbo (season 3) (1974) Benjamin Franklin (1975) Upstairs, Downstairs (season 4) (1976) Roots (1977) Holocaust (1978) Roots: The Next Generations (1979)
1980s	Edward & Mrs. Simpson (1980) Shōgun (1981) Marco Polo (1982) The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1983) Concealed Enemies (1984) The Jewel in the Crown (1985) Peter the Great (1986) A Year in the Life (1987) The Murder of Mary Phagan (1988) War and Remembrance (1989)
1990s	Drug Wars: The Camarena Story (1990) Separate but Equal (1991) A Woman Named Jackie (1992) Prime Suspect II (1993) Prime Suspect III (1994) Joseph (1995) Gulliver's Travels (1996) Prime Suspect: Errors of Judgement (1997) From the Earth to the Moon (1998) Hornblower ("The Even Chance" / "The Examination for Lieutenant" / "The Duchess and the Devil" / "The Frogs and the Lobsters") (1999)
2000s	The Corner (2000) Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001) Band of Brothers (2002) Taken (2003) Angels in America (2004) The Lost Prince (2005) Elizabeth I (2006) Broken Trail (2007) John Adams (2008) Little Dorrit (2009)
2010s	The Pacific (2010) Downton Abbey (season 1) (2011) Game Change (TV Movie) (2012) Behind the Candelabra (TV Movie) (2013) Fargo (season 1) (2014) Olive Kitteridge (2015) The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story (2016) Big Little Lies (season 1) (2017) The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story (2018) Chernobyl (2019)
2020s	Watchmen (2020) The Queen's Gambit (2021) The White Lotus (season 1) (2022) Beef (2023) Baby Reindeer (2024)

Benjamin Franklin (miniseries)

Cast

See also

References

External links