Melvin Frank

American film director (1913–1988)

Melvin Frank

Born| (1913-08-13)August 13, 1913

Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

Died| October 13, 1988(1988-10-13) (aged 75)

Los Angeles, California, U.S.

Education| University of Chicago (BA)
Occupation(s)| Screenwriter, film director, film producer
Spouse(s)|

Anne Ray

(m. 1944; div. 1983)​

Juliet

(m. 1983)​

Children| 3; including Elizabeth

Melvin Frank (13 August 1913 – 13 October 1988) was an American screenwriter, film producer and film director. He is known for his partnership with Norman Panama and their work on films such as Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948), White Christmas (1954), and The Court Jester (1956). He also directed films such as Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell (1968) and A Touch of Class (1973).

## Life and career

[edit]

Born to a Jewish family,[1] Frank met his future collaborator Norman Panama in 1933 when they were both at the University of Chicago.[2] After graduating, they formed a partnership in 1935 which endured for four decades; first writing for Milton Berle before becoming writers for Bob Hope's radio show. In 1941, they sold their first script to Paramount Pictures, My Favorite Blonde (1942), which starred Hope.[3]

They worked for Paramount for five years where, among others, they wrote Road to Utopia (1946), starring Hope and Bing Crosby, for which they received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.[3] They moved to Columbia Pictures making It Had to Be You (1947) and The Return of October (1948) and also wrote Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948) for RKO.[3]

In 1950, they signed a writing, producing and directing deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and made films together as co-writers, co-directors and co-producers.[3] They started with The Reformer and the Redhead (1950) and also made Knock on Wood (1954) and The Court Jester (1956), both with Danny Kaye, with the former earning them another Academy Award nomination. They also co-wrote White Christmas (1954) with Norman Krasna. They wrote a Broadway play together in 1956, later adapted into Li'l Abner (1959), directed by Frank. They received another Academy Award nomination for The Facts of Life (1960) and also worked on The Road to Hong Kong (1962).[3]

Frank went on to a successful solo career as a film director, most notably directing the acclaimed romantic comedy A Touch of Class (1973), starring George Segal and Glenda Jackson. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced (with Jack Rose) and Jackson won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role. Subsequent films directed by Frank include The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox (1976) and Lost and Found (1979).

Over the course of his career, Frank was nominated for five Academy Awards. In 1984, he received the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement from the Writers Guild of America.

### Death

[edit]

Frank had open heart surgery on October 12, 1988, and died the following day.[3]

### Personal life

[edit]

Frank's first wife was Anne Ray, younger sister of actress Jigee Viertel.[4] At the time of his death he was still married to his second wife, Juliet. He had three children, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Elizabeth Frank and sons Andrew and James.[2][5]

## Selected filmography

[edit]

* My Favorite Blonde (with Norman Panama) (1942) (story only)
* Road to Utopia (with Norman Panama) (1946)
* Monsieur Beaucaire (with Norman Panama) (1946)
* It Had to Be You (with Norman Panama) (1947)
* The Return of October (with Norman Panama) (1948)
* Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (with Norman Panama) (1948)
* The Reformer and the Redhead (with Norman Panama) (1950) (also co-director)
* Strictly Dishonorable (with Norman Panama) (1951) (also co-director)
* Callaway Went Thataway (with Norman Panama) (1951) (also co-director)
* Above and Beyond (with Norman Panama) (1952) (also co-director)
* White Christmas (with Norman Panama and Norman Krasna) (1954)
* Knock on Wood (with Norman Panama) (1954) (also co-director)
* The Court Jester (with Norman Panama) (1956) (also co-director)
* That Certain Feeling (with Norman Panama) (1956) (also co-director)
* Li'l Abner (with Norman Panama) (1959) (also director)
* The Trap (with Norman Panama) (1959)
* The Jayhawkers! (with Norman Panama) (1959) (also director)
* The Facts of Life (with Norman Panama) (1960) (also director)
* The Road to Hong Kong (with Norman Panama) (1962)
* Strange Bedfellows (with Norman Panama and Michael Pertwee) (1965) (also director)
* Not with My Wife, You Don't! (with Norman Panama, Peter Barnes and Larry Gelbart) (1966)
* A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (with Michael Pertwee) (1966)
* Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell (with Denis Norden and Sheldon Keller) (1968) (also director)
* A Touch of Class (with Jack Rose) (1973) (also director and producer)
* The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975) (director)
* The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox (with Barry Sandler and Jack Rose) (1976) (also director)
* Lost and Found (with Jack Rose) (1979) (also director)
* Walk Like a Man (1987) (director only)

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Erens, Patricia (1998). The Jew in American Cinema. Indiana University Press. pp. 392. ISBN 978-0-253-20493-6.
2. ^ a b Collins, Glenn (1988-10-15). "Melvin Frank, Producer, Director and Writer of Movies, Dies at 75". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-01-28.
3. ^ a b c d e f McCarthy, Todd (October 14, 1988). "Frank Dies After Heart Surgery". Daily Variety. p. 35.
4. ^ Beck, Nicholas (October 2001). Budd Schulberg: A Bio-bibliography. Scarecrow Press. p. 13\. ISBN 9780810840355.
5. ^ TCM Database entry

## External links

[edit]

* Melvin Frank at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Melvin Frank

* The Reformer and the Redhead (1950)
* Strictly Dishonorable (1951)
* Callaway Went Thataway (1951)
* Above and Beyond (1952)
* Knock on Wood (1954)
* The Court Jester (1955)
* That Certain Feeling (1956)
* The Jayhawkers! (1959)
* Li'l Abner (1959)
* The Facts of Life (1960)
* Strange Bedfellows (1965)
* Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell (1968)
* A Touch of Class (1973)
* The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975)
* The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox (1976)
* Lost and Found (1979)
* Walk Like a Man (1987)

* v
* t
* e

Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay

Original Drama
(1969–1983)|

* William Goldman (1969)
* Francis Ford Coppola & Edmund H. North (1970)
* Penelope Gilliatt (1971)
* Jeremy Larner (1972)
* Steve Shagan (1973)
* Robert Towne (1974)
* Frank Pierson (1975)
* Paddy Chayefsky (1976)
* Arthur Laurents (1977)
* Nancy Dowd, Robert C. Jones & Waldo Salt (1978)
* Mike Gray, T. S. Cook & James Bridges (1979)
* Bo Goldman (1980)
* Warren Beatty & Trevor Griffiths (1981)
* Melissa Mathison (1982)
* Horton Foote (1983)

Original Comedy
(1969–1983)|

* Paul Mazursky & Larry Tucker (1969)
* Neil Simon (1970)
* Paddy Chayefsky (1971)
* Peter Bogdanovich, Buck Henry, David Newman & Robert Benton (1972)
* Melvin Frank & Jack Rose (1973)
* Mel Brooks, Norman Steinberg, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor & Alan Uger (1974)
* Robert Towne & Warren Beatty (1975)
* Bill Lancaster (1976)
* Woody Allen & Marshall Brickman (1977)
* Larry Gelbart & Sheldon Keller (1978)
* Steve Tesich (1979)
* Nancy Meyers, Harvey Miller & Charles Shyer (1980)
* Steve Gordon (1981)
* Don McGuire, Larry Gelbart & Murray Schisgal (1982)
* Lawrence Kasdan & Barbara Benedek (1983)

Original Screenplay
(1984–present)|

* Woody Allen (1984)
* William Kelley & Earl W. Wallace (1985)
* Woody Allen (1986)
* John Patrick Shanley (1987)
* Ron Shelton (1988)
* Woody Allen (1989)
* Barry Levinson (1990)
* Callie Khouri (1991)
* Neil Jordan (1992)
* Jane Campion (1993)
* Richard Curtis (1994)
* Randall Wallace (1995)
* Joel Coen & Ethan Coen (1996)
* James L. Brooks & Mark Andrus (1997)
* Marc Norman & Tom Stoppard (1998)
* Alan Ball (1999)
* Kenneth Lonergan (2000)
* Julian Fellowes (2001)
* Michael Moore (2002)
* Sofia Coppola (2003)
* Pierre Bismuth, Michel Gondry, & Charlie Kaufman (2004)
* Paul Haggis & Bobby Moresco (2005)
* Michael Arndt (2006)
* Diablo Cody (2007)
* Dustin Lance Black (2008)
* Mark Boal (2009)
* Christopher Nolan (2010)
* Woody Allen (2011)
* Mark Boal (2012)
* Spike Jonze (2013)
* Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness (2014)
* Tom McCarthy & Josh Singer (2015)
* Barry Jenkins & Tarell Alvin McCraney (2016)
* Jordan Peele (2017)
* Bo Burnham (2018)
* Bong Joon-ho & Han Jin-won (2019)
* Emerald Fennell (2020)
* Adam McKay & David Sirota (2021)
* Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (2022)
* David Hemingson (2023)

* v
* t
* e

Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement

1950s|

* Sonya Levien (1953)
* Dudley Nichols (1954)
* Robert Riskin (1955)
* Julius Epstein & Philip Epstein and Albert Hackett & Frances Goodrich (1956)
* Charles Brackett & Billy Wilder (1957)
* John Lee Mahin (1958)
* Nunnally Johnson (1959)

1960s|

* Norman Krasna (1960)
* George Seaton (1961)
* Philip Dunne (1962)
* Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1963)
* John Huston (1964)
* Sidney Buchman (1965)
* Isobel Lennart (1966)
* Richard Brooks (1967)
* Casey Robinson (1968)
* Carl Foreman (1969)

1970s|

* Dalton Trumbo (1970)
* James Poe (1971)
* Ernest Lehman (1972)
* William Rose (1973)
* Paddy Chayefsky (1974)
* Preston Sturges (1975)
* Michael Wilson (1976)
* Samson Raphaelson (1977)
* Edward Anhalt (1978)
* Neil Simon (1979)

1980s|

* Billy Wilder & I. A. L. Diamond (1980)
* Ben Hecht (1981)
* Paul Osborn (1982)
* Lamar Trotti (1983)
* Melville Shavelson, Jack Rose, Norman Panama, and Melvin Frank (1984)
* William Goldman (1985)
* Waldo Salt (1986)
* Woody Allen (1987)
* Irving Ravetch & Harriet Frank Jr. (1988)
* Ring Lardner Jr. (1989)

1990s|

* Donald Ogden Stewart (1990)
* Alvin Sargent (1991)
* Frank Pierson (1992)
* Horton Foote (1993)
* Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (1994)
* Charles Bennett (1995)
* Daniel Taradash (1996)
* Robert Towne (1997)
* Bo Goldman (1998)
* Paul Schrader (1999)

2000s|

* Jean-Claude Carrière (2000)
* Betty Comden and Adolph Green (2001)
* Blake Edwards (2002)
* Mel Brooks (2003)
* John Michael Hayes (2004)
* David Mamet (2005)
* Lawrence Kasdan (2006)
* Robert Benton (2007)
* Budd Schulberg (2008)
* No award (2009)

2010s|

* Barry Levinson (2010)
* Steven Zaillian (2011)
* Eric Roth (2012)
* Tom Stoppard (2013)
* Paul Mazursky (2014)
* Harold Ramis (2015)
* Elaine May (2016)
* Oliver Stone (2017)
* James L. Brooks (2018)
* Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel (2019)

2020s|

* Nancy Meyers (2020)
* No award (2021)
* No award (2022)
* Charlie Kaufman (2023)

Authority control databases

International|

* FAST
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Artists|

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* Deutsche Biographie
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Other|

* SNAC

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