- Born
- Birth nameFrancis George Roddam
- Franc was born in Norton, near Stockton on Tees. On leaving St John's School at Billingham, he went to work at Smith's Dock in Middlesbrough but soon gained a scholarship to the London Film School. From there, he moved into the film side of TV commercials and freelancing, including his productions of The Fight, a BBC documentary about the preparation for the Bugner-Frazer fight. Television productions, such as Auf Wiedersehen Pet, brought more acclaim and Quadrophenia, his first feature film, achieved cult status in America. This success led 20th Century Fox to offer him a three-picture deal that brought a four year stay in Beverley Hills. The mid 1980's saw completion of a 14 million dollar blockbuster,The Bride, loosely based on May Shelley's Frankenstein tale, starring Sting and Jennifer Beals. Since then, Franc has maintained his run of successes with both film and television productions.
- IMDb mini biography by: Tonyman 5
- He has his own film company Union Pictures.
- His first film was a short called Birthday while his first feature was Quadrophenia which along with his 3rd feature The Bride both starred Sting.
- It was his company Union Pictures that made the tv series Harry in and around Darlington.
- Daughter Kate born 1975.
- Got his break with the Sunday Night tv drama Horsemen Ridding By in 1978.
- It was very tempting: come to Hollywood, get offered pictures with big stars and big director's fees. but the scripts were no good, so I turned them down, which is a hard thing to do.
- ... I believe that... if a producer gets a director the money, then it's up to me, because nobody can put the film together better than the director...
- It's great to make a period film and it's great to make a film, period.
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