{{Short description|American television writer and executive (1930–2025)}} {{For|the British politician|Frank Price (politician)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2025|cs1-dates=ly}} {{Infobox person | name = Frank Price | image = Frank Price by Ben Martin.jpeg | alt = | caption = Price {{circa}} 1980s | birth_name = William Francis Price Jr. | birth_date = {{Birth date|1930|5|17}} | birth_place = Decatur, Illinois, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|8|25|1930|5|17}} | death_place = Santa Monica, California, U.S. | education = | alma_mater = <!-- did not graduate --> | occupation = {{hlist|Hollywood studio head|<br/>script writer|editor}} | years_active = 1951–2001 | employer = {{ubl|Universal Television|Universal Studios|Columbia Pictures}} | boards = | spouse = {{ubl|{{marriage|Barbara Christensen|end = divorced}}|{{marriage|Phyllis Hull|end = divorced}}|{{marriage|Katherine Crawford|1965}}}} | children = 5, including Roy | awards = | signature = }}
'''William Francis Price Jr.''' (May 17, 1930 – August 25, 2025) was an American television writer and film studio executive. He held a number of executive positions including head of Universal TV; president, and later chairman and CEO, of Columbia Pictures; and president of Universal Pictures.<ref name=Appelo>{{cite web |last=Appelo |first=Tim |title=The Amazing Rise of Amazon Studios |work=Seattle Business Magazine |date=February 2017 |access-date=2017-10-22 |url=http://seattlebusinessmag.com/retail-services/amazing-rise-amazon-studios}}</ref> He is credited with helping in the 1960s to develop the "made-for-TV movie" and the 90-minute miniseries television format, including ''The Virginian'' (1962–1970).
As a studio president, Price oversaw the production of or greenlit famous films of the 1980s including ''Out of Africa'', which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1985, ''Tootsie'' (1982), ''Gandhi'' (1982) and ''The Karate Kid'' (1984). He greenlit ''Howard the Duck'' (1986), which became one of the worst flops in film history and caused him to resign from Universal.<ref name="Eller"/><ref name="Friendly"/> Price saved from obscurity the script for ''Back to the Future'' (1985),<ref name="Fleming"/> and made the decision to film other long-shots that became blockbusters including ''Boyz n the Hood'' (1991)<ref name="Kashner">{{cite magazine |last=Kashner |first=Sam |title=How Boyz n the Hood Beat the Odds to Get Made—and Why It Matters Today |magazine=Vanity Fair |date=August 4, 2016 |access-date=2017-11-17 |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/08/how-boyz-n-the-hood-beat-the-odds-and-why-it-matters-today}}</ref> and ''Ghostbusters'' (1984).<ref name="Blume"/> As of 1990 he had been in charge of turning out nine of the ten top-grossing films in Columbia's history.<ref name="Dutka-2"/>
==Early life== William Francis Price Jr. was born to William Francis Price and Winnifred A. (Moran) Price on May 17, 1930, in Decatur, Illinois.<Ref name = Sandomir>{{cite news|last = Sandomir|first = Richard |title = Frank Price, a Studio Chief Several Times Over, Dies at 95|date = August 29, 2025|access-date = 2025-08-29|newspaper = The New York Times |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/29/movies/frank-price-dead.html | author-link = Richard Sandomir}}</ref><ref name="Hollywood">{{cite web |title=Frank Price |work=Hollywood.com |access-date=2017-11-15 |url=http://www.hollywood.com/celebrities/frank-price-57296370/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171116083146/http://www.hollywood.com/celebrities/frank-price-57296370/ |archive-date=2017-11-16 }}</ref><ref name="Green">{{cite book |last=Green |first=Paul |chapter=Ch 21: Frank Price |title=A History of Television's The Virginian, 1962–1971 |publisher=McFarland |year=2009 |pages=179–183 |isbn=9780786457991 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OvPH-sYo_O8C&pg=PA179 }}</ref> During the Great Depression, his father moved continually in search of work; prior to college Price lived in eight cities around the country.<ref name="Green"/> He 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 Bros., exposing the young Price to a film studio and actors.<ref name="Green"/> At the time of his death he still had photographs of Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart, Olivia de Havilland and James Cagney inscribed "To Frankie".<ref name="Dutka-1">{{cite web |last=Dutka |first=Elaine |title=The Studio Shuffle: Frank Price |work=Los Angeles Times |date=December 18, 1994 |access-date=2017-11-18 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-12-18-ca-10292-story.html}}</ref>
Price served in the United States Navy during 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.<ref name="Green"/> In New York he dropped out of university to work full-time as a reader in the CBS-TV Story Department.<ref name="Green"/>
==Career== ===Television (1951–1978)=== Price was a 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''.<ref name="Green"/><ref name="TCM"/><ref name="Hollywood"/> He 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''.<ref name="Green"/><ref name="Hollywood"/> In 1957, he was story editor of NBC's Emmy Award-winning ''Matinee Theater''.<ref name="Green"/> In 1958–1959 he worked for Ziv Television Programs including on the western ''The Rough Riders''.<ref name="TCM"/>
In 1959, Price joined Universal TV (then Revue Productions) as associate producer and writer where he was mentored by Sidney Sheinberg and Lew Wasserman. In 1961, he made the transition from artist to studio executive when he was named vice president of Universal TV, and in 1971 senior vice president.<ref name="TCM"/> The same year, he was named president and head of Universal TV and vice president, MCA, Inc.<ref name="TCM"/> During his time at Universal he is credited with helping to develop new television formats the "made-for-TV movie" and the miniseries.<ref name="Hollywood"/> He was executive producer of the TV series, ''The Virginian'' (1962–70), TV's first 90-minute Western series.<ref name="TCM"/> Price said "''The Virginian'' played a formative role in my life. I got on-the-job experience running a high-profile show business enterprise, learning to coordinate business and creative endeavors."<ref>{{cite book |last=Green |first=Paul |chapter=Foreword by Frank Price |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OvPH-sYo_O8C |title=A History of Television's The Virginian, 1962–1971 |publisher=McFarland |year=2009 |pages=1–4 |isbn=9780786457991 }}</ref> In 1966, he produced one of the first movies made for television, ''The Doomsday Flight''.<ref name="Green"/> Other shows he developed or supervised included ''The Six Million Dollar Man'', ''Battlestar Galactica'', ''The Rockford Files'', ''Kojak'' and ''Columbo''.<ref>{{cite web |last=Reed |first=Josephine |title=A Conversation with Producer Frank Price, part 1 |publisher=National Endowment for the Arts |work=Art Works |date=2011 |access-date=2017-11-22 |url=https://www.arts.gov/audio/frank-price-part-1 |archive-date=2017-11-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171128001545/https://www.arts.gov/audio/frank-price-part-1 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
===Columbia Pictures (1978–1983)=== {{Quote box|quote=Whenever I felt overly stressed, I reminded myself that it's easier than writing. It's "let's put on a show" ... and getting paid to do it.<ref name="Dutka-1"/>|width=30%|border=4px|align=right}}
In 1978, after a 19-year career in television, Price left Universal to become president of Columbia Pictures.<ref name="Harmetz">{{cite web |last=Harmetz |first=Aljean |title=Frank Price Named To Head MCA's Universal Film Studio |work=The New York Times |date=November 12, 1983 |access-date=2017-11-16 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/11/12/arts/frank-price-named-to-head-mca-s-universal-film-studio.html | author-link = Aljean Harmetz}}</ref> "When I left Universal, I didn't know if I could ever become president of Columbia," he once said, "but I didn't want to wake up at the age of 65 and not have taken that chance to run a movie studio."<ref name="Harmetz"/> Over the next five years, Price greenlit a string of risky but highly successful films including ''Kramer vs. Kramer'' (1979), ''Tootsie'' (1982), ''Gandhi'' (1982), and ''The Karate Kid'' (1984).<ref name="Hollywood"/> For ''Ghostbusters'' (1984), "The wisdom in town was that I had made a terrible mistake," Price said, "When the film came on, the reaction was horrible. A studio executive came up and put his arm around me and said, 'Don't worry: we all make mistakes.' I was nauseous ... [but] when the movie came out, it just exploded."<ref name="Blume">{{cite web |last=Blume |first=Lesley M. M. |title=The Making of Ghostbusters: How Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and "The Murricane" Built "The Perfect Comedy" |work=Vanity Fair |date=June 4, 2014 |access-date=2017-11-16 |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2014/06/ghostbusters-making-of | author-link = Lesley M. M. Blume }}</ref>
During Price's tenure, the studio put Steven Spielberg's proposed follow up to ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', ''Night Skies'', into turnaround. The project eventually became the highest-grossing film of all-time, ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial''. Columbia received a share of the profits for its involvement in the development.<ref>{{cite news|work=Variety|title=Exec Shifts Make Columbia the Gem of Commotion|date=November 22, 1989|page=1|last=Cohn|first=Lawrence}}</ref>
After Columbia was purchased by The Coca-Cola Company in January 1982, Price lost out in a power struggle with Francis T. Vincent, chairman of Columbia Pictures Industries, over how to position Columbia in the new pay-cable TV market.<ref name="Harmetz"/> In October 1983, Price resigned from Columbia.<ref name="Harmetz"/> In hindsight Columbia would regret the decision – in 1990, Alan J. Levine, then President of Columbia, noted during Price's tenure he was responsible for turning out nine of the top ten grossing films in Columbia's history.<ref name="Dutka-2">{{cite web |last=Dutka |first=Elaine |title=Hollywood Veteran Price to Head Film Unit at Columbia |work=Los Angeles Times |date=March 22, 1990 |access-date=2017-11-18 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-03-22-fi-1047-story.html }}</ref>
===Universal Pictures (1983–1986)=== In November 1983, Price became chairman of the MCA Motion Picture Group, which included control of the production and distribution of Universal Pictures.<ref name="Harmetz"/> He is credited with saving the script for ''Back to the Future'' (1985) from obscurity, allowing the film to be completed.<ref name="Fleming">{{cite web |last=Fleming Jr. |first=Mike |title=Blast From The Past On 'Back To The Future': How Frank Price Rescued Robert Zemeckis' Classic From Obscurity |work=Deadline Hollywood |date=October 21, 2015 |access-date=2017-11-16 |url=https://deadline.com/2015/10/back-to-the-future-frank-price-rescued-robert-zemeckis-classic-1201590119/ }}</ref> He greenlit ''Out of Africa'', which won the best-picture Oscar in 1985.<ref name="Friendly">{{cite web |last=Friendly |first=David T. |title=Frank Price Quits Universal Pictures |work=Los Angeles Times |date=September 17, 1986 |access-date=2017-11-16 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-09-17-fi-10395-story.html | author-link = David T. Friendly }}</ref> However, in September 1986, Price quit Universal in fallout over the notorious flop of ''Howard the Duck''. In 2014, the ''Los Angeles Times'' listed ''Howard the Duck'' as one of the costliest box-office flops of all time.<ref name="Eller">{{cite web |last=Eller |first=Claudia |title=The costliest box office flops of all time |work=Los Angeles Times |date=January 15, 2014 |access-date=2017-11-16 |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-box-office-flops-pictures,0,7165703.photogallery }}</ref> "A duck brought Price down," lamented one producer.<ref name="Friendly"/>
Of his time at Universal, one industry insider said "Price had full carte blanche to put anything into the works at whatever cost. Frank did what he did at Columbia: He bought the big talent. In effect, he was spending a lot of money in an attempt to play it safe."<ref name="Friendly"/>
===Columbia Pictures (1990–1991) and independent=== In 1987, Price formed his own studio Price Entertainment.<ref name="Hollywood"/> The company was initially set up in 1986 with a first-look production deal at Tri-Star Pictures.<ref>{{Cite news|date=September 24, 1986|title=Frank Price Relinquishes U Reins; Signs Point To Move To Tri-Star|page=3|work=Variety}}</ref> The company 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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Greenberg |first=James |date=November 18, 1987 |title=Frank Price Putting Out Shingle At Tri-Star As An Indie Producer |pages=3, 26 |work=Variety}}</ref> In 1990, after Sony purchased Columbia Pictures, Price was approached to return to Columbia and after a series of short negotiations he was appointed chairman of Columbia Pictures.<ref name="Dutka-2"/> His company Price Entertainment, Inc. was merged with Columbia in March 1991 with the agreement it would turn out two films a year, produced by Price but without being credited to him.<ref>{{cite web |last=Price |first=Frank |title=We Get letters ... : 'Gladiator' |work=Los Angeles Times |date=March 1, 1992 |access-date=2017-11-18 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-03-01-ca-5356-story.html }}</ref>
During his time at Columbia he greenlit ''Boyz n the Hood'' (1991),<ref name="Kashner"/> ''The Prince of Tides'' (1991), ''Bram Stoker's Dracula'' (1992) and ''Groundhog Day'' (1993).<ref name="Green"/> On being a studio chief, Price considered it one of the world's great jobs:<ref name="Dutka-1"/>
<blockquote>... the best part of the job was the ability to buy the best – directors, scripts, talent. The worst was spending your day saying "no" – telling people you don't share their dreams. You're making subjective decisions in a very amorphous realm ... and have to wait 18 to 24 months before you know if you guessed right. Anyone who complains about the stresses is a fool. The pay and the perks are good. You have fun lunches with Streisand and Redford. And it's sort of like being head of a small country. Though I rarely used the plane, I was met at the airport and commanded a certain amount of deference. Things go your way – period.<ref name="Dutka-1"/></blockquote>
Price left Columbia on October 4, 1991, at which time Price Entertainment was re-activated and continued an association with Sony Pictures Entertainment with a non-exclusive production deal.<ref name="TCM">{{cite web |title=Frank Price |work=Turner Classic Movies |access-date=2017-11-16 |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/155334%7C53930/Frank-Price/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171117122116/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/155334%7C53930/Frank-Price/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 17, 2017 }}</ref> Price Entertainment continued making pictures until 2001 including ''Shadowlands'' (1993), ''Circle of Friends'' (1995) and ''The Tuskegee Airmen'' (1995).<ref name="Green"/>
==Other work== 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 included Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis, David Geffen, among others.<ref name="Green"/> 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. "And I think it is."<ref name="Green"/> He retired from the board in 2021.<ref>{{cite web |title=Frank Price To Retire As Chair Of USC School Of Cinematic Arts Board Of Councilors; Donna Langley Assuming Role For One-Year Term |work=Deadline Hollywood |first=Matt |last=Grobar |date=April 14, 2021 |access-date=2022-05-02 |url=https://deadline.com/2021/04/frank-price-usc-school-of-cinematic-arts-donna-langley-chair-board-of-councilors-retirement-1234734595/ }}</ref> Price was on the Board of Trustees of the University of Southern California since 1996.<ref name="Green"/><ref>{{cite web |title=In memoriam: Frank Price, 95, renowned Hollywood producer and USC trustee |work=USC Today |date=September 3, 2025 |access-date=2025-10-01 |url=https://today.usc.edu/in-memoriam-frank-price-95-renowned-hollywood-producer-and-usc-trustee/ }}</ref> In 2022, USC awarded him an honorary degree.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Medzerian |first=David |date=March 29, 2022 |title=6 distinguished figures to receive USC honorary degrees |website=USC Today |language=en-US |access-date=2024-05-09 |url=https://today.usc.edu/usc-commencement-2022-honorary-degree-recipients/ }}</ref>
==Industry reflections== Price came from the artistic side of the industry, starting out as a script writer. He considered this an advantage later when deciding to make a film, saying "Unwilling to base my decisions on other people's perceptions, I spent a lot of my time reading [scripts]. From what I understand, however, that's the exception rather than the rule."<ref name="Dutka-1"/> Price was also a serious reader, after his 1987 departure from Universal he devoured books ranging from ''Das Kapital'' to Adam Smith's ''The Wealth of Nations''.<ref name="Dutka-1"/> Price worked on a novel of his own (never published), he said it was "my version of ''The Last Tycoon''", an unfinished novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald about the life of a Hollywood studio manager.<ref name="Dutka-1"/> "I know that world better than F. Scott Fitzgerald," Price said. "This is a business like no other. Though there may not be any more politics and infighting in Hollywood than elsewhere, the stakes are so much higher. One bad casting decision can ruin a picture."<ref name="Dutka-1"/>
==Personal life and death== Price's first "marriage" was while he was still a teenager, to Barbara Christensen; it ended in annulment (it was never legal).<ref name = Sandomir/> The couple had a son born January 13, 1949, who they put up for adoption, and he was raised as Mike Damitz; Price reunited with him in 2018, and they remained close until Damitz's death in 2024 at the age of 75.<ref name = Sandomir/> He then married Phyllis Hull, with whom he had two sons: Steve Price (deceased 2024), who worked with his father in film production, and David Price, who directed films such as ''Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice''.<ref name = Sandomir/>
After that marriage ended in divorce, Price married Katherine Crawford on May 15, 1965, an actress known for ''Riding with Death'' (1976), ''A Walk in the Spring Rain'' (1970) and ''Gemini Man'' (1976).<ref name=Appelo/> She starred in ''The Alfred Hitchcock Hour'' (1963 – Season 1 Episode 28: "Last Seen in Blue Jeans") as Loren Saunders and also was guest star in an early episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Her father was Roy Huggins, who created and produced TV shows like ''The Fugitive'', ''The Rockford Files'' and ''Maverick''.<ref name=Appelo/> Price and Katherine had two sons, including Roy Price, a former Amazon Studios executive.<ref name = Sandomir/> The couple remained married for 60 years, until Frank’s death.<ref name = Sandomir/>
Price died in his sleep of natural causes at his home in Santa Monica, California, on August 25, 2025, at the age of 95.<ref>{{cite web|last=Barnes|first=Mike|title=Frank Price, Studio Chief at Columbia (Twice) and Universal, Dies at 95|work=The Hollywood Reporter|date=August 25, 2025 |access-date=2025-08-25 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/frank-price-dead-columbia-universal-studio-chief-1236353178/ }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Pedersen |first=Erik |title=Frank Price Dies: Former Head Of Columbia Pictures & Universal TV Was 95 |work=Deadline Hollywood |date=August 25, 2025 |access-date=2024-08-25 |url=https://deadline.com/2025/08/frank-price-deaad-studio-chief-columbia-universal-1236497283/ }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * A Conversation with Producer Frank Price ([https://web.archive.org/web/20171128001545/https://www.arts.gov/audio/frank-price-part-1 Part 1]) ([https://web.archive.org/web/20200930031352/https://www.arts.gov/audio/frank-price-part-2 Part 2]), National Endowment for the Arts. * {{cite journal |first=Bret |last=Lott |author-link=Bret Lott |date=Winter 2013 |title=The Fixer: The Making of Frank Price |url=http://www.vqronline.org/articles/fixe |journal=Virginia Quarterly Review |volume=89 |number=1r }} * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbEPhdGwnJ0 Career of Hollywood Titan Frank Price], interview with Lionel Chetwynd (2012) * Frank Price career retrospective: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdwS-T8tl-U television] and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HqxINXwcQI film], by David Price * Frank Price Story: Part [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya453R-zKT4 1], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Mvk5U3vzOI 2],[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49Z4YVoal2s 3], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pELoi1d3Wz4&t=127s 4], interviews * {{IMDb name|0696895}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Frank}} Category:1930 births Category:2025 deaths Category:20th-century American businesspeople Category:American chief executives in the mass media industry Category:American film studio executives Category:Columbia University alumni Category:Michigan State University alumni Category:Military personnel from Illinois Category:People from Decatur, Illinois Category:Presidents of Columbia Pictures Category:20th-century American screenwriters