Biography for
Franklin J. Schaffner More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

30 May 1920, Tokyo, Japan

Date of Death

2 July 1989, Santa Monica, California, USA (lung cancer)

Birth Name

Franklin James Schaffner

Mini Biography

Franklin J. Schaffner was one of the most innovative creative minds in the early days of American network television, utilizing a moving camera in the days when most television directors kept the camera static. His eye for visuals was developed in the dozens of live television programs he directed on prestigious shows such as "Studio One in Hollywood" (1948) and "Playhouse 90" (1956), not to mention his work in news and public affairs on "March of Time" and as one of the directors of TV coverage of the 1948 political conventions in Philadelphia. His visual sense came to be one of the important attributes of his work in feature films, such as the trek taken across the desert by the astronauts at the start of Planet of the Apes (1968). In addition to his Oscar and DGA Awards for Patton (1970), Schaffner also won Sylvania Awards in 1953 and 1954, Emmy Awards in 1954, 1955 and 1962 and a Variety Critics Poll Award in 1960.

IMDb Mini Biography By: rtvf (qv's & corrections by A. .Nonymous)

Spouse

Helen Jean Gilchrist

(1948 - 2 July 1989) (his death) 2 children

Trade Mark

He often used Jerry Goldsmith to compose the scores (Planet of the Apes, Patton, Papillon, etc.)

Trivia

President of the Directors Guild of America (DGA). [1987-1989]

Directed 3 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: George C. Scott, Janet Suzman and Laurence Olivier.

In 1977, the Franklin J. Schaffner Film Library was established at his alma mater, Franklin and Marshall College.

Schaffner was a member of the Directors Guild of America (president 1987-1989), the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Phi Beta Kappa, the Center Theater Group of the Music Center in Los Angeles, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, the National Council of the Arts, the Presidential Task Force on the Arts and Humanities, and the American Film Institute.

He was president of Gilchrist Productions from 1962- 1968, and then president of Franklin Schaffner Productions from 1968- 1989.

In 1960, he directed "Advise and Consent" on Broadway.

He served as TV counselor to President John F. Kennedy in 1961-1963.

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 759-760. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999.

Father of Jenny Schaffner & Kate Schaffner.

Grandfather of Matthew Schaffner.

His Film and TV production files have been donated to Franklin & Marshall College Library in Lancaster, Pennsyvlania.

Salary

Sphinx (1981)

$1,500,000