18 Facts About Mark Frechette

Mark Frechette was an American-Canadian film actor.

Mark Frechette is best known for playing the lead role in the 1970 film Zabriskie Point, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, in which he was cast despite his lack of acting experience.

Mark Frechette became an active member of Mel Lyman's commune.

Three years later, Frechette was arrested following an attempted bank robbery; he died in prison two years after his arrest.

Mark Frechette was born to an Irish American mother and a French Canadian father.

Mark Frechette attended high school in Fairfield, Connecticut, but dropped out.

Mark Frechette spent some time panhandling and did some carpentry work in Boston.

Mark Frechette was selected from among thousands during a casting process for Zabriskie Point that lasted nearly a year.

Mark Frechette was discovered in Boston by Sally Dennison, Antonioni's assistant and casting director, while in the middle of a shouting match turned violent at a Charles Street bus-stop.

Mark Frechette appeared on the cover of Sight and Sound, the March 1970 and September 1970 covers of Films and Filming along with several other magazines.

Mark Frechette appeared in the November 1969 issue of Vogue in a fashion shoot.

Mark Frechette tried without success to recruit Halprin to join the commune.

Mark Frechette appeared in two other films made in Italy and Yugoslavia, Many Wars Ago and La Grande Scrofa Nera.

Mark Frechette tithed his $60,000 earnings from Zabriskie Point and other films to the Fort Hill Community.

Mark Frechette was sentenced to a term of six to fifteen years in prison.

Mark Frechette was confined in the minimum security state prison in Norfolk, Massachusetts.

Mark Frechette phoned me every second day and always assured me that he almost had the money.

Mark Frechette died in prison on September 27,1975, during an apparent weightlifting accident when a 150-pound barbell fell on his neck and he suffocated.