Franklin J. Schaffner
Biography
Franklin J. Schaffner is an Academy Award-winning director best known for his stellar work in the 1970s, including "Patton" and the sci-fi favorite "Planet of the Apes." Born to missionaries in Tokyo, he eventually moved to the United States to study and enter the United States Navy.
After World War II he landed work with CBS, where he cut his teeth directing episodes of the anthology drama series "Studio One in Hollywood," eventually winning an Emmy in 1955 for the episode "Twelve Angry Men."
The visual style he developed on the show helped him gain the strong sense of mise-en-scène and epic scope that he brought to his features, notably on the classic "Planet of the Apes" in 1968.
The biopic of United States General "Patton" won him a directing Oscar and took home Best Picture and two major acting awards in 1970. Schaffner followed up this coup with several major features throughout the decade, as one of Hollywood's most sought-after names.
He was acclaimed for his work with Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman in the prison thriller "Papillon," but by the end of the decade he was losing steam with such critical bombs as the 1978 Nazi thriller "The Boys from Brazil."
Though he made only two more, little-seen features, Schaffner was elected president of the Directors Guild of America in 1987.
