John Frankenheimer

Birthday: 19 February 1930, Queens, New York City, New York, USA

Birth Name: John Michael Frankenheimer

Height: 191 cm

Born in New York and raised in Queens, John Frankenheimer wanted to become a professional tennis player. He loved movies and his favorite actor was Robert Mitchum. He decided he wanted to be an actor but then he applied for and was accepted in the Motion Picture Squadron of the Air Force where he realized his natural talent to handle a camera. After his military discharge he began a TV career in 1953 convincing CBS to hire him as an assistant director, which consisted mainly working as a cameraman at that time. He eventually started to direct the show he was working on as an assistant director. Frankenheimer still didn't want to direct films. He liked to direct live television, and he would have continued to do it if the profession itself hadn't cease to exist. He first turned to the big screen with The Young Stranger (1957) which he hated to do because he thought he didn't understand movies and wasn't used to work with only one camera. Disappointed his with first feature film experience he returned to his successful television career directing a total of 152 live television shows between 1954 and 1960. He took another chance to move to the cinema industry, working with Burt Lancaster in The Young Savages (1961) ending up becoming a successful filmmaker best known by expressing on films his views on important social and philosophical topics. Show less «

[on Alfred Hitchcock] When I say I have been influenced by Hitchcock, I think every director in a ce...Show more »

[on Alfred Hitchcock] When I say I have been influenced by Hitchcock, I think every director in a certain way has been influenced by Hitchcock, because in many of his films, you find those marvellous moments; but I've never been fulfilled by a Hitchcock film. I would certainly never want to be Hitchcock, and would never want to make films like his because I think they're meaningless. I think all those kind of "after the fact" and "in depth" studies of Hitchcock are ludicrous. If ever there was a commercial director, it was Hitchcock. He's terribly good, but also terribly glib and really a very surface director. I don't think his films contain deep motivations. It's very easy to read things into certain films. He's a clever man and gifted and I often think of what he could have achieved if his talents had been directed toward something more meaningful. Show less «

On referring to Val Kilmer and his personal feelings about him while making The Island of Dr. Moreau...Show more »

On referring to Val Kilmer and his personal feelings about him while making The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996): Will Rogers never met Val Kilmer. Show less «

There are two things I will never do in my life. I will never climb Mount Everest, and I will never ...Show more »

There are two things I will never do in my life. I will never climb Mount Everest, and I will never work with Val Kilmer again. There isn't enough money in the world. - in Premiere magazine, April 1997. (Frankenheimer directed the 1996 film The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996), which starred Val Kilmer, with whom he reportedly had personal differences.) Show less «

No one ever looked like Burt Lancaster in "The Crimson Pirate. [on the impressive physique of friend...Show more »

No one ever looked like Burt Lancaster in "The Crimson Pirate. [on the impressive physique of friend Lancaster] Show less «

It's very eclectic, the way one chooses subjects in the movie business, especially in the commercial...Show more »

It's very eclectic, the way one chooses subjects in the movie business, especially in the commercial movie business. You need to develop material yourself or material is presented to you as an assignment to direct. Show less «

I'm a filmmaker... I like to work.

[on Alfred Hitchcock] Any American director who says he hasn't been influenced by him is out of his ...Show more »

[on Alfred Hitchcock] Any American director who says he hasn't been influenced by him is out of his mind. Show less «

Many of my films concern the individual trying to find himself in society and trying to maintain his...Show more »

Many of my films concern the individual trying to find himself in society and trying to maintain his individuality in a mechanized world. I do feel that society wants everybody to be exactly the same. It's so much easier. I think the theme of the indomitability of the human spirit is very much there, and the fight against regimentation. When we talk about life my philosophy is that you have to live your life the way it is. You can change it but you can't change who you are or what you've done before. And you have to live with that. I think that point was very well brought out in Seconds (1966), that's what the film is all about. Show less «

I feel that my job is to create an atmosphere where creative people can do their best work. In other...Show more »

I feel that my job is to create an atmosphere where creative people can do their best work. In other words, I have to create an atmosphere where these people feel safe, where they feel respected, and where they feel that they can contribute. Show less «

[on Kirk Douglas] He's wanted to be Burt Lancaster all his life.

John Frankenheimer

John Frankenheimer's FILMOGRAPHY

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