Biography

Harriet Frank Jr. was born on March 2, 1923 in Portland, Oregon, USA. She was a writer and producer, known for Hud (1963), The Cowboys (1972) and Norma Rae (1979). She was married to Irving Ravetch. She died on January 28, 2020 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Screenplays written along with husband Irving Ravetch and directed by Martin Ritt.

Her sister-in-law, Merona Faithe Ravetch, married her brother, Martin, in 1956.

After returning from their honeymoon, Harriet and Irving learned that they had been fired by MGM. They were subsequently hired by Warner Bros. studios. Harriet Frank Jr. also wrote stories for the Saturday Evening Post and Collier's magazines.

She was the daughter of Edith Frances (Bergman) and Sam Goldstein. Edith changed the family surname to Frank, becoming Harriet Frank Sr., and making her teenage daughter Harriet Frank Jr. The family moved to Los Angeles where Harriet Frank Sr. became a story editor for MGM, and her daughter was a screenwriter trainee.

Her father was born in Oregon, to Russian Jewish parents. Her mother was born in Helena, Lewis and Clark, Montana, to a Latvian Jewish father, Solomon Bergman, from Courland, Latvia, and an Estonian Jewish mother, Rosa Usvanski, who was born in Tartu, Estonia.