Frank Romer Pierson (May 12, 1925 – July 22, 2012) was an American screenwriter and film director.Byrge, Duane (July 23, 2012). [Frank Pierson, Former Movie Academy President, Writer and Director, Dies at 87.] The Hollywood ReporterYardley, William (July 24, 2012).Frank Pierson, Oscar-Winning Writer, Dies at 87. The New York Times
Life and career Pierson was born in Chappaqua, New York, the son of Louise (née Randall), a writer, and Harold C. Pierson. Pierson's family was the subject of his mother's 1943 autobiography Roughly Speaking and a 1945 movie of the same name, starring Rosalind Russell and Jack Carson as his parents.
Pierson served in the Army during World War II, then graduated from Harvard. He worked as a correspondent for Time and Life magazines before selling his first script to Alcoa-Goodyear Theater. He got his break in Hollywood in 1958 as script editor for Have Gun – Will Travel and moved on to write for the television series Naked City, Route 66 and others. He wrote or co-wrote several successful films, including Cat Ballou and Cool Hand Luke, which both received Academy Award nominations. He wrote Dog Day Afternoon, which won Pierson the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He directed and contributed to the screenplay of the 1976 remake of A Star Is Born. The in-fighting between himself, Barbra Streisand, Kris Kristofferson and producer (and at the time boyfriend of Streisand) Jon Peters on the film led him to write the article "My Battles with Barbra and Jon" for The Village Voice.Pierson, Frank (November 16, 1976). My Battles with Barbra and Jon. The Village Voice
Pierson directed several films produced for television, including Dirty Pictures, Citizen Cohn, Conspiracy, and Somebody Has to Shoot the Picture. His direction on Conspiracy won a Directors Guild of America Award for Best Television Movie, and his second Peabody and BAFTA Award.
He was President of the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) from 1981 to 1983 and again from 1993 to 1995 and was President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) from 2001 to 2005. In 2003, Pierson was the recipient of the Austin Film Festival's Distinguished Screenwriter Award. Screenwriter Brian Helgeland presented him with the Award. He was a consultant on Mad Men, co-writing (with Matthew Weiner) the fifth episode of its fifth season, "Signal 30", a member of the teaching staff of the Sundance Institute, and artistic director of the American Film Institute.
Pierson married his wife Helene in 1990 and had two children. He died on July 22, 2012, in his home in Los Angeles.
Filmography Television Year Title Director Writer Notes 1962 Have Gun – Will Travel 1962–1963 Naked City 1963 Route 66 Episode "Build Your Houses with Their Backs to the Sea" 1970 The 42nd Annual Academy Awards 1971 Nichols Also creator 1973 The Bold Ones: The New Doctors Episode "And Other Springs I May Not See" 1985 Alfred Hitchcock Presents 2010 The Good Wife Episode "Hybristophilia" 2012 Mad Men Episode "Signal 30"
TV movies Year Title Director Writer 1971 The Neon Ceiling 1973 Amanda Fallon 1980 Haywire 1990 Somebody Has to Shoot the Picture 1992 Citizen Cohn 1994 Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee 1995 Truman 2000 Dirty Pictures 2001 Conspiracy 2003 Soldier's Girl 2004 Paradise
Feature film Year Title Director Writer 1965 Cat Ballou 1967 The Happening Cool Hand Luke 1970 The Looking Glass War 1971 The Anderson Tapes 1975 Dog Day Afternoon 1976 A Star Is Born 1978 King of the Gypsies 1989 In Country 1990 Presumed Innocent
References
External links
Frank Pierson to Receive Edmund H. North Award WGA News, February 1999.