Frank Perry
This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2014) |
Frank Perry | |
---|---|
The Actors Studio University of Miami | |
Occupation(s) | Director, filmmaker |
Years active | 1955–1992 |
Employer | Westport Country Playhouse |
Spouses | Virginia Brush Ford (m. 1992) |
Relatives | Katy Perry (niece) |
Frank Joseph Perry Jr.
Early life
Frank Joseph Perry Jr. was born in New York City to stockbroker Frank Joseph Perry Sr. (1905–1969) and Pauline E. Schwab (1908–1965), who worked at Alcoholics Anonymous.[1] As a teenager, Frank Jr. began pursuing his interest in the theater with a job as a parking lot attendant for the Westport Country Playhouse in nearby Westport, Connecticut. He attended the University of Miami. Frank also studied under Lee Strasberg in New York. He produced several plays at Westport Country Playhouse and then turned for a time to producing television documentaries.[4]
Career
A veteran of the Korean War, he returned to the entertainment industry after being discharged and made his directorial debut in 1962 with the low-budget drama film
Perry is known for his character studies, such as
Some of Perry's film-related material and personal papers are held at the Wesleyan University Cinema Archives, a collection to which scholars and media experts from around the world today have full access.[8]
Personal life and death
In 1958, Frank married his first wife Eleanor, who was 15 years his senior and had two children in William and Ann from a previous marriage. Frank and Eleanor collaborated on many screen projects, including screenwriting the Academy Award-nominated 1962 David and Lisa (an adaptation of the novella of the same name) which came about due to Eleanor's daughter Ann bringing the novella to her mother's attention.[9] They divorced in 1971 on grounds of incompatibility.[10] In 1979, Eleanor Perry wrote the novel Blue Pages, based on their relationship. She died of cancer two years later, at age 66.
In 1977, Perry married Barbara Goldsmith, founding editor of New York magazine and book author (Little Gloria...Happy at Last), whom he divorced in 1992. Soon after, he married his Aspen ski instructor, 22-years-younger Virginia Brush Ford, on June 15, 1992.
His sister is pastor Mary Christine Perry, the wife of pastor Maurice Keith Hudson and mother of singers Katy Perry and David Hudson.[11][12]
Perry died of prostate cancer on August 29, 1995, eight days after his 65th birthday, at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan.[13] His final film, On the Bridge (1992), is an autobiographical documentary about his illness. His ashes were scattered on the mountains of Aspen, Colorado, where he lived the last three years of his life.[14]
Author Justin Bozung has been researching and writing about Perry's life since 2013 for a planned official biography titled Character Is Story: The Life & Films of Frank Perry.[15][16]
Filmography
Film
Title | Year | Credited as | Production Company | Distributor | Ref | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Director | Producer | Writer | |||||
David and Lisa | 1962 | Yes | No | No | Lisa and David Company | Continental Distributing
| |
Ladybug Ladybug | 1963 | Yes | Yes | No | Francis Productions | United Artists | |
The Swimmer | 1968 | Yes | Yes | No | Horizon Pictures | Columbia Pictures | |
Last Summer | 1969 | Yes | Yes | No | Francis Productions | Allied Artists | |
Trilogy | 1969 | Yes | Yes | No | Francis Productions | Allied Artists | |
Diary of a Mad Housewife | 1970 | Yes | Yes | No | Frank Perry Films | Universal Pictures | |
Doc | 1971 | Yes | Yes | No | Frank Perry Films | United Artists | |
Play It as It Lays | 1972 | Yes | Yes | No | Frank Perry Films | Universal Pictures | |
Man on a Swing | 1974 | Yes | No | No | Jaffilms | Paramount Pictures | |
Rancho Deluxe | 1975 | Yes | No | No | Elliott Kastner Productions | United Artists | |
Mommie Dearest | 1981 | Yes | No | Yes | Frank Yablans Presentations | Paramount Pictures | |
Monsignor | 1982 | Yes | No | No | Frank Yablans Presentations | 20th Century Fox
| |
Compromising Positions | 1985 | Yes | Yes | No | C.P. Productions | Paramount Pictures | |
Hello Again | 1987 | Yes | Yes | No | Touchstone Pictures | Buena Vista Pictures | |
Miss Firecracker | 1989 | No | Yes | No | Corsair Pictures | Corsair Pictures | |
A Shock to the System | 1990 | No | Yes | No | Corsair Pictures | Corsair Pictures | |
On the Bridge | 1992 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Frank Perry Films | Frank Perry Films |
Television
Series | Episode | Year | Credited as | Production Company | Network | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Director | Producer | |||||
Playwright at Work | All episodes | 1961 | No | Yes | National Educational Television and Radio Center | |
ABC Stage 67 | A Christmas Memory | 1966 | Yes | Yes | Francis Productions | American Broadcasting Company |
TV movie | Among the Paths to Eden | 1967 | Yes | Yes | Francis Productions | American Broadcasting Company |
TV movie | The Thanksgiving Visitor | 1967 | Yes | Yes | Francis Productions | American Broadcasting Company |
TV movie | Miriam | 1970 | Yes | Yes | Francis Productions | American Broadcasting Company |
TV movie | Dummy | 1979 | Yes | No | The Königsberg Company | Columbia Broadcasting System
|
Skag | Pilot | 1980 | Yes | No | Lorimar Productions | National Broadcasting Company
|
TV movie | J.F.K.: A One-Man Show | 1984 | Yes | No | Public Broadcasting Service
|
Public Broadcasting Service
|
References
- ^ a b "Mrs. Frank J. Perry, 56, Alcoholics Anonymous Aide". The New York Times. March 13, 1965.
- ^ Fleming, Charles (March 15, 1988). "Frank Perry to head new film company". Los Angeles Herald-Examiner.
- ^ "Lost & Found: Name: Frank Perry Description: Film Director Last Seen: On the ski lift". Variety. January 4, 1993.
- ^ "Perry, Frank". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
- ISBN 0-02-542650-8.
Various directors and playwrights, including Frank Corsaro, Martin Fried, Jack Garfein, Michal V. Gazzo, Charles Gordone, Israel Horovitz, Arthur Penn, Eleanor Perry, Frank Perry, Sidney Pollack, Mark Rydell, Alan Schneider, and John Stix, have also been granted membership on the basis of their contributions to the life and work of The Actors Studio, as have certain other non-performers, such as Liska March and Carl Schaeffer.
- ISBN 9781535867795. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
- ^ "The 2nd Annual Razzie - Movies from 1981". Filmaffinity. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
- ^ "Cinema Archives". Wesleyan University. Retrieved September 29, 2013.
- ^ Oliver, Myrna (September 1, 1995). "Obituaries : Frank Perry; Director of 'David and Lisa'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 6, 2011.
- ^ Lawson, Carol (March 17, 1981). "Eleanor Perry Dies". The New York Times.
- ^ Robinson, Lisa (May 3, 2011). "Katy Perry's Grand Tour". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on October 25, 2014. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
- ISBN 978-1-4549-0364-2.
- ^ Gussow, Mel (August 31, 1995). "Frank Perry, 65, the Director Who Filmed 'David and Lisa'". The New York Times. Retrieved September 6, 2011.
- ^ Smith, Liz (September 7, 1995). "Douglas Behaves to Save Marriage". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved September 6, 2011.
- ^ "Kool Kat of the Week: Author and Filmmaker Frank Perry's Official Biographer Justin Bozung Dishes on Atlanta's Frank Perry Retrospective Presented by Videodrome". ATLRetro. March 28, 2017. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
- ^ "Tough Guys Don't Dance". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
Further reading
- Films in Review.
- Ebiri, Bilge (August 25, 2008). "Domestic Disturbances. The unsung cinema of Frank and Eleanor Perry". Moving Image Source.
- Mandarano, Matthew (March 11, 2011). "Along the Bridge: The Films of Frank Perry". Notes on a Film.