Trivia

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.

Frankenheimer was initially set to direct Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), but was taken off the film because star Audrey Hepburn had never heard of him. Ironically that gave him the opportunity to do The Manchurian Candidate (1962).

The camera work of most directors in "The Golden Age" of TV drama was static, reflecting most TV directors' backgrounds in the theater, and they 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.

Burt Lancaster personally chose him to replace Arthur Penn as director of The Train (1964) when Lancaster did not approve of Penn's vision of the film--he wanted a more action-oriented film that would appeal to a wider audience, while Penn envisioned it as being more about the paintings that drove the film's plot.

When Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968, it was his good friend Frankenheimer who had personally driven him there that day. In the initial confusion following the shooting Frankenheimer was mistakenly identified as one of the other people shot that night.

Steve Martin's long-time girlfriend in the 1970s, Mitzi Trumbo, left him for Frankenheimer. A number of years later, Frankenheimer tried unsuccessfully to seduce Martin's wife at the time, Victoria Tennant, according to Martin's autobiography.

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. He said that the shot was an accident.

According to Frankenheimer he and Burt Lancaster did not get along doing The Young Savages (1961). In a 1983 interview the director remarked, "We disliked each other intensely. There was no way I was ever going to work with him again." Lancaster changed his mind after seeing the film, and when the actor acquired the rights to "Birdman of Alcatraz" and learned that Frankenheimer wanted to do it, they formed a personal and professional partnership and ended up doing five films together, among them Birdman of Alcatraz (1962).

In 1953, he arrived in New York City with just $150 and was able to talk the people at CBS into hiring him as an assistant director.

Was a gourmet chef who studied at the Cordon Bleu in France.

Although often thought of as an actor's director, he had a very abrasive working relationship with Sir Dirk Bogarde on The Fixer (1968). Since then, Bogarde always referred to him as "Frankenstein".

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

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).

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

He has directed two films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and Seconds (1966).

Was fluent in French.

His protege was director Sydney Pollack.

Frankenheimer used the pseudonymous Alan Smithee credit on the 1987 TV-movie "Riviera (1987)".

Starting with 52 Pick-Up and ending with Path To War Frankenheimer hired composer Gary Chang to score 8 of his films.

Directed three Emmy Award-winning performances: Raul Julia in The Burning Season: The Chico Mendes Story (1994), Mare Winningham in George Wallace (1997) and Gary Sinise in George Wallace (1997).

Served in the U. S. Air Force during the Korean War directing training films while stationed in Burbank, CA.

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

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).

Named the State Fair (1945) as his favorite film when polled by the AFI's "Private Screenings.".

He was married three times. His first wife was called Joanne Evans and they were briefly married while both were college students--chiefly, he claimed, because in the 1940s it was easier than living together. He claimed that neither of them remotely expected the marriage to last long, and it didn't.

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

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

According to David Niven his film The Extraordinary Seaman was originally going to be made in the studio then at the last minute director, John Frankenheimer decided to make it in Mexico in a rough location in the jungle at Quatsicorpos which meant daily mile long journeys up river. One day one of the boats hit the wake of one of the others at an angle tipping everyone into the river, fortunately without any mishap and all were rescued from a sand bank.

Owned a 1988 supercharged Mercedes-Benz 560 SEL, which was willed to the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles upon his death. It can occasionally be seen at the museum on display.

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), respectively.

During his last two summer vacations of college, acted in summer stock at the Highland Playhouse in Falmouth, Massachusetts.

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

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).

Was attached to direct Men of War (1994) starring Dolph Lundgren, originally written by John Sayles as "A Safe Place". Dropped out to make a somewhat ecologically similarly themed, The Burning Season: The Chico Mendes Story (1994).

Inducted posthumously into the Television Hall of Fame in 2002.

He originally wanted to be a racing car driver but on joining the American army he helped a film company make some documentaries and was taken with the idea of working in films and started making television films and documentaries before moving into films.

Graduated from LaSalle Military Academy in Long Island, New York where he was captain of the tennis team and briefly considered becoming a pro tennis player.

When he was still in his early twenties, he had become one of the highest-paid assistant directors in American television. He claimed that this was partly because, unlike most other people working in the pressure-cooker atmosphere of live television, he actually enjoyed the pressure, and partly because, in the early days of TV, a great many directors didn't know what they were doing, or else had come from other disciplines - radio or theatre, for example - and simply didn't understand the special requirements of the new medium. He was fond of telling the story of how he got promoted to full director when the director he was assisting gave way to hysteria after inadvertently ordering the camera to point in the wrong direction, showing the control booth instead of the actors. Frankenheimer said that this director, whom he did not name, had then vomited over him and actually had to be knocked down (or, in some versions of the story, knocked out) before Frankenheimer could take over and save the show, which he then successfully directed to its conclusion. The next day, Frankenheimer, instead of being fired, was promoted.

When Charles Higham and Joel Greenberg arrived at his Hollywood home in 1968 to interview him for the British magazine "Sight And Sound", he startled them by offering them large Bloody Mary drinks at only eleven o'clock in the morning. They declined, said Higham, "with barely-concealed shudders". Years later, Frankenheimer spoke candidly about his problems with alcoholism, which he claimed had adversely affected his career.

Grandson Dylan.

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

Had a younger brother and sister.

Grew up at 30 Boulevard Drive in Whitestone, Queens, New York.