Frank Price(I)
- Producer
- Writer
- Production Manager
One of the few Hollywood executives to come out of a writing
background, Price interrupted his early TV career (where he was story
editor and writer for CBS-TV from 1951-53) with a stint as story editor
at Columbia Pictures (1953-57), which he would later head at two
separate times. As the head of Universal TV in the 1970's, he developed
or supervised
L'homme qui valait 3 milliards (1974),
Super Jaimie (1976),
L'incroyable Hulk (1977),
Galactica (1978),
Deux cent dollars plus les frais (1974)
and many others. He is credited with helping to create new TV formats:
movies made-for-TV and the mini-series, as well as the 90-minute
series. In 1978, Price left the presidency of Universal TV to become
President, and later Chairman and CEO, of Columbia Pictures where he
was involved with such story-driven, award-winning films as
Kramer contre Kramer (1979),
Tootsie (1982) and
Gandhi (1982) and top-grossers as
S.O.S. fantômes (1984) and
Karate Kid (1984). In 1983,
after conflict with parent company Coca-Cola over his autonomy, Price
swung back to Universal as chairman of the motion picture group and
president of Universal Pictures, where he developed
Retour vers le futur (1985),
Fletch aux trousses (1985),
Out of Africa - Souvenirs d'Afrique (1985) and
Breakfast Club (1985).
After Sony's purchase of Columbia, the newly-installed executives,
Jon Peters and
Peter Guber, appointed Price to head
Columbia Pictures. Eighteen months later, in October 1991, when his
colleague at Warner Bros., Mark Canton, was
freed from his contract, he was brought in to replace Price, who
continued his association with Sony Pictures Entertainment with a
non-exclusive production deal.
