| Frank Marshall | |
| Birth Name: | Frank Wilton Marshall |
| Birth Date: | 13 September 1946 |
| Birth Place: | Glendale, California, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Film producer, film director |
| Years Active: | 1968–present |
| Children: | 2 |
Frank Wilton Marshall (born September 13, 1946) is an American film producer and director. He often collaborates with his wife, film producer Kathleen Kennedy, with whom he founded the production company Amblin Entertainment, along with Steven Spielberg. In 1991, he founded, with Kennedy, The Kennedy/Marshall Company, a film production company. Since May 2012, with Kennedy taking on the role of President of Lucasfilm, Marshall has been Kennedy/Marshall's sole principal.[1]
Marshall has worked with directors such as Spielberg, Paul Greengrass, Peter Bogdanovich, David Fincher, M. Night Shyamalan, and Robert Zemeckis. He has also directed the films Arachnophobia (1990), Alive (1993), Congo (1995), Eight Below (2006), and the documentaries (2020), (2022) and The Beach Boys (2024).
Marshall has produced various successful film franchises, including Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, Bourne and Jurassic World, and has received five nominations for the Academy Award for Best Picture. His other accolades include the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, bestowed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to "creative producers, whose bodies of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion picture production",[2] the David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures, a Grammy Award, a Sports Emmy Award, and a Tony Award. Marshall is one of the few people to have received an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony (EGOT), with one of the awards being non-competitive.
Born in Glendale, California, Marshall is the son of guitarist, conductor and composer Jack Marshall. His early years were spent in Van Nuys, California. In 1961, his family moved to Newport Beach, where he attended Newport Harbor High School, and was active in music, drama, cross country, and track. He entered UCLA in 1964 as an engineering major, and graduated in 1968 with a degree in Political science. While at UCLA, he was initiated into Alpha Tau Omega fraternity,[3] helped create its first NCAA soccer team, and played collegiate soccer there in 1966, 1967 and 1968.[4]
In 1966, he met film director Peter Bogdanovich at a birthday party for the daughter of director John Ford, a friend of his father. Marshall volunteered to work on Bogdanovich's first film, Targets (1968), which became his apprenticeship in film production, as he assumed various productions roles, even appearing in a bit part. Following graduation from UCLA, Marshall spent the next two years working in Aspen and Marina del Rey, as a waiter/guitar player at "The Randy Tar," a steak and lobster restaurant. While traveling through Europe in March 1970, he received another call from Bogdanovich, offering him a position on The Last Picture Show (1971). Three days later he arrived in Archer City, Texas, doubling as location manager and actor in this seminal film. Under Bogdanovich's guidance, Marshall would work his way up from producer's assistant to associate producer on five more films. He branched out to work with Martin Scorsese as a line producer on the music documentary The Last Waltz (1978) and as an associate producer on director Walter Hill's gritty crime thriller, The Driver (1978). The following year, Marshall earned his first executive producer credit on Hill's cult classic street gang movie, The Warriors (1979) and first producer credit on George Lucas and Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). He continued to collaborate with Bogdanovich, completing their tenth film together, Orson Welles' unfinished The Other Side of the Wind in 2018.[5]
In 1981, together with his future wife Kathleen Kennedy and Steven Spielberg, he co-founded Amblin Entertainment, one of the industry's most productive and profitable production companies. As a producer, Marshall has received five Oscar nominations for Best Picture for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), Seabiscuit (2003), The Sixth Sense (1999), The Color Purple (1985), and Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).[6] During the 1980s and 1990s, Marshall served on the advisory board of the National Student Film Institute.[7] [8]
His feature film directing debut was the thriller Arachnophobia (1990), starring Jeff Daniels. In 1991, he and Kennedy created The Kennedy/Marshall Company and began producing their own films. Marshall directed the company's first film, Alive (1993), about a rugby team struggling to survive in the snow after their plane crashes in the Andes. Next, he directed Congo (1995), based on Michael Crichton's novel, followed by Eight Below (2006),[6] an adventure about loyalty and the bonds of friendship set in the extreme wilderness of Antarctica. In 1998, he directed the episode "Mare Tranquilitatis", for the Emmy Award-winning HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon. As part of ESPN's 30 for 30 series, Marshall directed a documentary about Olympian Johann Olav Koss entitled Right to Play (2012). (the name of Koss's humanitarian organisation).[9] Marshall stated that the documentary, broadcast in 2012, sought to capture not only Koss' sporting career and the ideals behind his nonprofit organization, but also his "drive and how it has changed the world."[9]
From 1991 to 2012, The Kennedy/Marshall Company produced many films, including The Sixth Sense, Signs, Seabiscuit, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, War Horse, Lincoln, Sully, the Bourne series and the feature documentary The Armstrong Lie (2013). Since taking over as sole principal of the company, Marshall has broadened its slate beyond feature films to include television, documentaries and Broadway musicals. Those include the summer blockbuster series Jurassic World, Orson Welles's final film, The Other Side of the Wind, and the Emmy Award-nominated documentaries , Laurel Canyon, and McCartney, 3,2,1. In 2020, he directed the Hélder Guimarães virtual magic shows The Present and The Future for the Geffen Stayhouse, both which had sold-out runs and , which was nominated for six Emmys. In 2022, he produced the Tony award-winning musical, A Strange Loop and co-directed the Grammy winning documentary, . His 2023 productions included Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Good Night, Oscar, starring Tony Winner Sean Hayes. In 2024, Marshall directed The Hope Theory at Geffen Playhouse with Helder Guimarães, The Beach Boys documentary for Disney+ and produced TWISTERS for Universal Pictures.
Marshall is a former VP, member of the board of directors and member of the Executive Committee of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC). He was awarded the Olympic Shield in 2005, and inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame class of 2008 for his years of service to the USOPC.[10]
Currently, he serves on the board of Athletes for Hope, as Board Co-Chair of The Archer School for Girls, the UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television Executive Board, and the BAFTA North America Board. He is a recipient of the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented alongside Kathleen Kennedy by Awards Council member George Lucas,[11] the UCLA Alumni Professional Achievement Award and the California Mentor Initiative's Leadership Award. In June 2004, Marshall gave the Commencement Address at the UCLA College of Letters and Science graduation ceremony in Pauley Pavilion.[12]
Marshall enjoys magic and music and has performed under the moniker of "Dr. Fantasy" or "DJ Master Frank".[13] Marshall, a long distance runner, and American premiere miler Steve Scott founded the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series, which debuted in 1998 in San Diego as the largest first-time marathon in history.[14]
Film
| Year | Title | Director | Executive Producer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Arachnophobia | ||
| 1993 | Alive | ||
| 1995 | Congo | ||
| 2006 | Eight Below | ||
Documentary films
| Year | Title | Director | Executive Producer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | |||
| 2022 | Carole King & James Taylor: Just Call Out My Name | ||
| 2023 | Rather | ||
| 2024 | The Beach Boys | ||
Television
| Year | Title | Director | Executive Producer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Right To Play | |||
| 2014 | The Man vs. The Machine | |||
| 2022 | Picabo |
Producer
Associate producer
Line producer
Executive producer
Co-executive producer
Location manager
Production management
2nd unit director
Acting roles
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Targets | Ticket Boy | |
| 1971 | The Last Picture Show | Tommy Logan | |
| 1976 | Nickelodeon | Dinsdale's assistant | |
| 1981 | Raiders of the Lost Ark | Flying Wing Pilot | |
| 1984 | Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom | Tourist at Airport | |
| 2006 | Hoot | Golfer #2 | |
| 2012 | The Secret World of Arrietty | Additional voices | U.S. dub |