RON FRANK   is an award-winning filmmaker.  He has earned a Peabody award and Emmy nomination, and has worked as director, writer, editor and producer. 


He directed and edited, External link opens in new tab or window“Remembering Gene Wilder” screening nationwide and winner of the Best Film Award at the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival.  Ron was producer and editor for External link opens in new tab or window“MLK: The Assassination Tapes” for Smithsonian Channel for which he received the George Foster Peabody Award.  Ron produced and edited External link opens in new tab or window“The Lost JFK Tapes” for National Geographic Channel, a two hour special on the JFK assassination for which he received an Emmy nomination. He is director, producer and editor of his theatrical documentary film, External link opens in new tab or window“When Comedy Went to School” about the birthplace of standup comedy in the Catskill Mountains with Sid Caesar, Jerry Lewis, Jerry Stiller, Jackie Mason, Most Sahl and Robert Klein. Ron has produced documentaries on the Holocaust and Israel, including a two-hour special for History Channel; External link opens in new tab or window“The Hunt for Adolf Eichmann”, narrated by Gregory Peck, featuring Eli Wiesel. Called an “absorbing documentary”, by the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.  He was director and writer for External link opens in new tab or window“The Eternal Road” on PBS; the story of a lost opera by Kurt Weill that foreshadowed the fate of German Jewry. “An eloquent work” - LOS ANGELES TIMES, “Deftly alternates from the present to the past” - NEW YORK TIMES.


Ron has lived in Israel producing films for Jewish organizations and the Israeli government.

 




Director's Statement


Very rarely has an unpretentious actor appeared on the big screen who shunned Hollywood only to become a global icon nevertheless. In my film, External link opens in new tab or window“Remembering Gene Wilder”,  the man who plays Willy Wonka was one such artist. Alan Alda told me that Gene was a seeker of truth in his art and his life. Carol Kane said that Gene saw her doing comedy long before she did. And Mel Brooks describes how he saved Gene’s career:   External link opens in new tab or window“Remembering Gene Wilder” clip


External link opens in new tab or windowThe film premiered to about 1000 people at the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills and won the Best Picture Award at the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival.  External link opens in new tab or windowIt also opened the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival to about 800 at the External link opens in new tab or windowCastro Theater.  Future plans are for a nationwide theatrical release.


I was producer and editor for External link opens in new tab or windowMLK: The Assassination Tapes for Smithsonian Channel for which I received a Peabody.  External link opens in new tab or windowFirst-rate effort, compelling historical documentary – Variety


I was nominated for the 2010 Emmy for my National Geographic channel special which I produced and edited: External link opens in new tab or windowThe Lost JFK Tapes – a unique perspective on the day of the JFK assassination, External link opens in new tab or windowMesmerizing.  – NY Times, External link opens in new tab or windowRevelatory – Dallas Morning News, External link opens in new tab or windowFascinating documentary – NY Daily News 


Among those I have interviewed and worked with in my career are:  Gregory Peck, John McCain, Larry King, Robert Klein, Mort Sahl, Sid Caesar, Jerry Lewis, Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, Deepak Chopra.


When I interviewed Olivia Newton-John about how she survived breast cancer, she described it as a gift in Deepak Chopra’s External link opens in new tab or window“Seven Spiritual Laws of Success” for 20th Century Fox.


In my theatrical documentary, External link opens in new tab or window“When Comedy Went to School”, I directed Robert Klein to bring us back in time to the Borscht Belt; the incorrigible Jerry Lewis talked about performing as a kid with his parents; Sid Caesar revealed the way he got through life was to tell a joke; Dick Gregory explained how black comics could not perform in front of white audiences; and Hugh Hefner acknowledged how he broke the color barrier.  External link opens in new tab or windowA loving look at a bygone era – Huffington Post.  External link opens in new tab or windowIt consistently entertains – Variety. External link opens in new tab or windowThoroughly funny chronicle of the Catskills resorts – NY Daily News


Leonard Nimoy and his family provided me with details about Leonard’s life as a father, grandfather, and his death, for a External link opens in new tab or windowdocumentary about the Star Trek legend.



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