- Born
- Died
- Writer, director and producer Richard Franklin was born on July 15, 1948 in Melbourne, Australia. Infatuated with cinema at an early age, Franklin first began making 8mm films at age 10. Franklin saw Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" two years later and was hooked on movies for life. Richard enrolled at Monash University in Melbourne and worked as an assistant cameraman at a television advertising company. Franklin eventually went to America and attended the University of Southern California in 1967. While studying at USC Franklin got Hitchcock to do a Q&A session for a screening of "Rope." Hitchcock in turn invited Franklin to watch him work on the set of "Topaz." Franklin returned to Australia following graduation in 1969 and got a job as an assistant director for the popular TV series "Homicide." Franklin went on to direct several episodes. He also made several short movies and documentaries around this time. Franklin made his feature film debut with the raunchy sex comedy "The True Story of Eskimo Nell." He followed this picture with the equally bawdy "Fantasm." His third movie "Patrick" was a nifty horror feature that proved to be a big international success; it won the Grand Prize at the Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival, was nominated for an AFI Award for Best Film, and won the Best Director Award at the Sitges-Catalonian International Film Festival. "Roadgames" was a tense and witty "danger on the road" thriller knockout which was the most expensive Australian film made in the early 80s. Franklin then did the surprisingly solid and satisfying belated sequel "Psycho II." His other movies include the delightful "Cloak and Dagger," the silly "Link," and the hugely enjoyable "F/X 2." However, Franklin became weary of Hollywood studio politics and returned to his native Australia. He made the acclaimed play adaptations "Hotel Sorrento" and "Brilliant Lies." "Hotel Sorrento" won an AFI Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and was nominated for both Best Film and Best Director. Franklin also did a made-for-TV adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's classic fantasy adventure novel "The Lost World." His final feature was the horror thriller "Visitors." In addition to his film work, Franklin also directed episodes of the TV shows "Flatland," "A Fine Romance," and "Beauty and the Beast." He was a drummer in the Melbourne band The Pink Finks and was a lecturer at the Swinburne School of Film and Television in Australia. Richard Franklin died from prostate cancer at age 58 on July 11, 2007.- IMDb Mini Biography By: woodyanders
- SpousesJennifer Hadden(2000 - July 11, 2007) (his death)Denise Elizabeth Baldwin(September 15, 1972 - ?) (divorced, 3 children)
- After arranging for a screening of Rope (1948) at USC as well as an appearance by Hitchcock himself, the director invited the aspiring young filmmaker to come and follow him about on the Topaz (1969) set. Years later he visited mentor Hitchcock for the last time on the set of Family Plot (1976), the Master's last film.
- He was working on his autobiography and a PhD at the time of his death.
- Franklin had wanted to do a thriller for children and started to do a remake of the Bobby Driscoll starring vehicle The Window (1949) which Universal held the rights to. Ultimately the writers abandoned that and ended up writing Cloak & Dagger (1984).
- He acquired the movie rights to Henry De Vere Stacpoole's "The Blue Lagoon" from David Begelman once Begelman was sacked from the presidency of Columbia Pictures.
- Received a degree in English from Monash University, leaving his native Australia to attend USC Film School in the mid-60s.
- We're already a cross-culturalized society. I'm always concerned whether my friends in America will be able to understand what we're saying on screen. I'm trying to be true for Australians and true to the international audience. I'm all for personal film, but if I can make a statement that's universal, is it any less personal?
- I like to work fast. I think if you're adequately prepared, there's no reason to stand around waiting for the muse to strike. It's much better to have all the plans in place. I see no advantage on trying something twenty different ways to come back to the way you should have done it in the first place.
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