Frank Price held a number of executive positions including head of Universal TV in the 1970s; president, and later chairman and CEO, of Columbia Pictures; and president of Universal Pictures.
27 Facts About Frank Price
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Frank Price saved from obscurity the script for Back to the Future, and made the decision to film other long shots that became blockbusters like Boyz n the Hood and Ghostbusters.
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Frank Price was born to William F Price and Winnifred A Price on May 17,1930, in Decatur, Illinois.
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Frank Price attended three years of high school in Flint, Michigan, and spent five years in Glendale, California, where his mother worked as a waitress in the cafeteria of Warner Brothers, exposing the young Price to a film studio and actors.
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Frank Price still has photographs of Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart, Olivia de Havilland and James Cagney inscribed "To Frankie".
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Frank Price served about one year in the US Navy from 1948 to 1949, then attended three years of college at Michigan State University from 1949 to 1951 before transferring to Columbia University on the strength of his writing talent.
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Frank Price was story editor and writer for CBS-TV in New York from 1951 to 1953 where he worked on series such as Westinghouse Studio One, Suspense and The Web.
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Frank Price moved to Los Angeles where he was story editor at Columbia Pictures from 1953 to 1957, working on shows like Ford Theater, Father Knows Best, Damon Runyon Theater, Playhouse 90 and Circus Boy.
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In 1959, Frank Price joined Universal TV as associate producer and writer where he was mentored by Sid Sheinberg and Lew Wasserman.
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Frank Price was executive producer of the TV series, The Virginian, TV's first 90-minute Western series.
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In 1978, after a 19-year career in television, Frank Price left Universal to become president of Columbia Pictures.
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In November 1983, Frank Price became chairman of the MCA Motion Picture Group, which included control of the production and distribution of Universal Pictures.
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Frank Price is credited with saving the script for Back to the Future from obscurity allowing the film to be completed.
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However, in September 1986, Frank Price quit Universal in fallout over the notorious flop of Howard the Duck.
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Frank Price did what he did at Columbia: He bought the big talent.
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Frank Price was initially set up in 1986 with a first-look production deal at Tri-Star Pictures.
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Frank Price had officially established in late November 1987 as an auxiliary production arm of Tri-Star Pictures after a longer-established move, and the company had fit into the scheme at the then-pending merger with the Coca-Cola Entertainment Business Sector into Columbia Pictures Entertainment that the joint venture relationship was transferred to Columbia Pictures once the deal was finalized.
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In 1990, after Sony purchased Columbia Pictures, Frank Price was approached to return to Columbia and after a series of short negotiations he was appointed chairman of Columbia Pictures.
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On being a studio chief, Frank Price considered it one of the world's great jobs:.
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Frank Price left Columbia on October 4,1991, at which time Frank Price Entertainment was re-activated and continued an association with Sony Pictures Entertainment with a non-exclusive production deal.
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Frank Price Entertainment continued making pictures until 2001 including Shadowlands, Circle of Friends and The Tuskegee Airmen.
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Frank Price was chairman of the Board of Councilors for the USC School of Cinema-Television since its inception in 1992, where he assembled a board that including Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis, David Geffen, among others.
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Frank Price said the board helps with the school's teaching mission and fund raising, and "it takes an amount of time trying to make sure that's a top school," he said.
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Frank Price was on the Board of Trustees of the University of Southern California.
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Frank Price came from the artistic side of the industry starting out as a script writer.
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Frank Price married Katherine Crawford on May 15,1965, an actress known for Riding with Death, A Walk in the Spring Rain and Gemini Man.
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Frank Price's father was Roy Huggins, who created and produced TV shows like The Fugitive, The Rockford Files and Maverick.