John Michael Frankenheimer
USABiography of John Michael Frankenheimer
John Michael Frankenheimer (19.02.1930–6.07.2002) was an American film director. He was born in Malba, Queens, New York, to parents Helen Marie Frankenheimer (Shidy) and stockbroker Walter Martin Frankenheimer. His father was a German Jew and his mother was an Irish Catholic, and he was ultimately raised as a Catholic.
Frankenheimer graduated from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts in 1951. He developed an interest in filmmaking while serving in the United States Air Force after the Korean War, where he made training films for the Air Force and became serious about directing.
Early Career
Frankenheimer began his career in television, starting with an interview at CBS after his discharge from the military. The head of the personnel department he interviewed with was also a former military personnel and told Frankenheimer that there were no openings at the moment, but they would inform him when something came up. According to one of his later interviews, Frankenheimer spent two weeks waiting for the call in a hotel room, as missed messages were not kept at the hotel. Finally, he was called and hired as a director for live broadcasts. In the 1950s, he directed over 140 episodes of various shows, including "Playhouse 90," "Climax!," and "Danger," with one episode written by Rod Serling and starring Mickey Rooney.
Frankenheimer's first film was "The Young Stranger" in 1957, with James MacArthur in the lead role of a rebellious teenager. He had been directing for twenty-six years by that time. He continued to work in television throughout the rest of the 1950s, transitioning to film in 1961 with "The Young Savages," his first collaboration with Burt Lancaster, who played a role in the film as a boy killed by New York gangsters. His next film with Lancaster, "Birdman of Alcatraz," was shot in 1961 after another director, Charles Crichton, had already worked on it. Lancaster, who also produced the film, asked Frankenheimer to take over as director. Initially, Frankenheimer thought the script was too long and suggested cutting it, but ultimately filmed everything that was written.
The initial version of the film, as Frankenheimer predicted, turned out to be four and a half hours long. Moreover, the structure of the film made it impossible to shorten it without losing coherence. Frankenheimer declared that the script would have to be rewritten and parts of the film would have to be reshot. Lancaster was busy working on "Judgment at Nuremberg" at the time, and Frankenheimer made plans for reshoots. The final version of the film was released in 1962 and received four Oscar nominations, including one for Lancaster's performance.
After "Birdman of Alcatraz," Frankenheimer was hired by producer John Houseman to direct "All Fall Down," a family drama starring Eva Marie Saint and Warren Beatty. Due to difficulties in releasing "Birdman of Alcatraz," this film was released later.
Breakthrough Films
Frankenheimer's most famous film, "The Manchurian Candidate," followed. He and producer George Axelrod bought the rights to Richard Condon's novel after it was rejected by many Hollywood studios. After Frank Sinatra agreed to star in the film, the creators secured the support of United Artists. The story about a Korean War veteran whose brain was "brainwashed" by Chinese communists to assassinate a presidential candidate was released with Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, and Angela Lansbury in the lead roles. Frankenheimer had difficulty casting Lansbury – she had worked with him in "All Fall Down" but was only two years older than the character who was supposed to be her son. Sinatra once suggested Lucille Ball for the role. The film was nominated for two Oscars, including one for Lansbury's performance.
For many years, the film went unseen. There is even an urban legend that the film was pulled from distribution because of its plot's similarity to the assassination of President Kennedy the following year; however, Frankenheimer claims that the film was delayed due to legal disputes between the studio and Sinatra as the stumbling block was the payment for Sinatra's services. In any case, the film was re-released in 1988 and was highly successful.
In 1964, Frankenheimer directed another successful political thriller, "Seven Days in May." He once again acquired the rights to a best-selling novel, this time by Charles Bailey II and Fletcher Knebel. The film starred Kirk Douglas.
