David Frankham

For about 20 years from the mid-'50s until the mid-'70s, David Frankham was one of the most visible villains and second male leads on television -- and one of the more interesting British actors working in American horror and science fiction movies. Born in Kent, England, in 1926, Frankham studied architecture and served in the Far East as an army draftee for three years in the late '40s. It was while posted in Malaya that he won a contest in which the prize included a brief stint on radio as an announcer; he proved a natural at the microphone and, after an apprenticeship on Radio Malaya, landed a job with the BBC after returning to civilian life. By age 25, he was back in England making a comfortable living as an announcer, news reader, and radio talk-show host; but he also wanted to try his hand at acting and moved to the U.S. in 1955. Frankham landed a role on an NBC drama a few weeks after his arrival, and spent the next few years doing lots of television work, including live dramatic anthology shows and appearances on filmed syndicated series such as Ziv TV's Men Into Space. Frankham landed his first movie role when he was selected to play the principal villain in Edward Bernds' Return of the Fly (1959). This launched him on a career in which he mostly portrayed morally compromised leading characters in movies such as Disney's Ten Who Dared and American International Pictures' Master of the World (in which his character turns upon Charles Bronson -- the hero of the piece -- in betrayal). In addition to his film work, Frankham did some voice acting during this period: In the original 101 Dalmatians (1961), he voiced Sgt. Tibs, and he dubbed many of the voices in William Wyler's Ben-Hur (1959). Although he was born and raised in England, Frankham was able to do a credible American accent, which greatly expanded the roles he could play. He made the rounds of the studios, working in everything from low-budget horror (Tales of Terror [1962]) to big studio productions such as Columbia's King Rat (1965), and remained very active on television in such series as The Gallant Men, Thriller, Twelve O'Clock High, The Beverly Hillbillies, Dr. Kildare, The F.B.I., and The Outer Limits. In the latter -- in one of the creepiest shows ever done on the program -- he had an unusually upright and heroic role as the stubbornly uncorruptable Harvey Kry Jr. in "Don't Open Till Doomsday" (the show with the "box creature"), in which his would-be bride, separated by time and space, ages into the scary Miriam Hopkins. His other memorable appearance was in the third season Star Trek episode "Is There in Truth No Beauty?," playing Lawrence Marvick, a man who is destroyed by his jealousy of an alien visitor (oddly enough, another "box creature," and one so hideous that the mere sight of it drives humans insane). From the early '60s into the '70s, the actor did numerous commercials, though his most lasting public impression came from the work he did on science fiction, horror films and television shows. Frankham quit acting on a regular basis in 1976, though there were periodic roles in the decade that followed, including a stint on a CBS soap opera and appearances in the movies The Great Santini and Wrong Is Right.

~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide