Harriet Frank Jr.
Frank as depicted inAmazing Stories in 1953
Born	Harriet Goldstein (1923-03-02)March 2, 1923 Portland, Oregon, U.S.
Died	January 28, 2020(2020-01-28) (aged 96) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Other names	Harriet Frank James P. Bonner
Occupation(s)	Screenwriter, producer
Years active	1947–1990
Spouse	Irving Ravetch ​ ​ (m. 1946; died 2010)​

Harriet Frank Jr. (bornHarriet Goldstein; March 2, 1923 – January 28, 2020) was an American screenwriter and producer. Working with her husbandIrving Ravetch, Frank received many awards during her career, including theNew York Film Critics Circle Awards and theWriters Guild of America Award, and several nominations.

Frank began her writing career after World War II, underMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer's young writer's training program, where she first met her future husband. She married Ravetch in 1946 but worked independently for ten years, finally collaborating with him in 1957, a relationship that continued for the remainder of her career. During 33 years of collaboration, Frank and Ravetch created the screenplays for a variety of films, mainly adaptations of the works of American authors.

Frank and Ravetch maintained a close working relationship with directorMartin Ritt, collaborating with him on eight film projects. After initially being suggested by Ravetch to directThe Long, Hot Summer (1958), Ritt eventually drew the couple out of inactivity on three occasions, hiring them to write the screenplays forNorma Rae (1979),Murphy's Romance (1985) andStanley & Iris (1990). The last was both the last film directed by Ritt (who died later that year) and the last screenplay by Frank and Ravetch.

Frank is a primary focus ofThe Mighty Franks: A Memoir (2017),^[1] written by her nephewMichael Frank, a writer of fiction and non-fiction. She has a prominent, fictionalized role in the stage playWriter's Cramp, written by her other nephew, the playwrightJoshua Ravetch and performed at The Geffen Playhouse with Holland Taylor and Robert Forster in the A.S.K. in 2009.

Harriet Frank Jr. was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, the daughter of Edith Frances (Bergman) and Sam Goldstein, a shoe store owner.^[2] Her mother changed the family name to Frank, and her own name to Harriet, making herself Harriet Sr. and her daughter Harriet Jr.^[3] In 1939, she relocated with her family toLos Angeles, where her mother worked as a Hollywood story editor;^[4] her father attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) at the same time as Irving Ravetch, her future husband.^[2] Having graduated at different times from UCLA, the two met in theMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer young writers' training program after World War II.^[5][6]

The couple married in 1946, but worked independently for over 10 years, with Frank writing for projects such asA Really Important Person (short, 1947),Whiplash (1948) andRun for Cover (1955).^[5][6] In 1953, Frank also wrote the novellaThe Man From Saturn, a humorous science fiction tale that first appeared inAmazing Stories magazine, and was later published as achapbook.

The couple first collaborated on the script of an adaptation ofWilliam Faulkner's novelThe Hamlet, released asThe Long, Hot Summer (1958), but Frank later said "in the end, we created mostly new material, so it wasn't really a true adaptation".^[6]

Martin Ritt, having directedThe Long, Hot Summer on suggestion by Ravetch, then directed the couple's next collaborationThe Sound and the Fury (1959), again an adaptation of a William Faulkner novel.^[6] Frank and Ravetch collaborated on two films released in 1960,Home from the Hill, an adaptation of thenovel of the same name, andThe Dark at the Top of the Stairs, an adaptation of aTony Award-winningplay.^[5]

Frank and Ravetch reunited with Martin Ritt to write the screenplay forHud (1963),^[5] adapted from the novelHorseman, Pass By (1961) byLarry McMurtry.^[7][8] The film received positive reviews by the critics, with the couple sharing aNew York Film Critics Circle Award for "Best Screenplay" and aWriters Guild of America Award (WGA Award) for Best Written American Drama.^[9][10] They were nominated for anAcademy Award in the category of Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.^[11]

Frank worked alongside her husband and Ritt onHombre (1967), aRevisionist Western based on thenovel of the same name.^[12] The next year, Frank and Ravetch wrote the screenplay forHouse of Cards (1968, released in the U.S. the following year and directed byJohn Guillermin. ForHouse of Cards, Frank was credited, together with her husband, under the pen name of James P. Bonner.^[13] Frank and Ravetch returned to the works of William Faulkner, writing the screenplay for a film adaptation of his last novelThe Reivers (1969).^[5]

Frank and Ravetch wrote the screenplay forThe Cowboys (1972), based on the novel of the same name, andThe Carey Treatment (also 1972), based on the novelA Case of Need byMichael Crichton.^[14] For the latter, the couple were credited under James P. Bonner, the last time they adopted the pen name. The couple reunited with Martin Ritt to write the screenplay forConrack (1974), based on the autobiographical bookThe Water Is Wide, with Frank also working as producer. The film was commercially and critically well-received, winning a BAFTA award.^[15] The couple wrote for an adaptation of the novelThe Bank Robber, released asThe Spikes Gang (also 1974). Around this time, Frank also wrote the novelsSingle: a novel (1977),^[16] andSpecial Effects (1979).^[17]

Frank and Ravetch next project,Norma Rae (1979), was another collaboration with director Martin Ritt. The film tells the story of a factory worker from the Southern United States who becomes involved inlabour union activities.^[18] Unusually, for the couple, the film was based on a true story, that ofCrystal Lee Jordan.^[18] It was arguably their best received film,^[19][20] winning numerous awards,^[21][22] including two Academy Awards.^[23][24]

Another six years passed before the couple's next filmed screenplay, this time for the romantic comedyMurphy's Romance (1985), based on a novel byMax Schott. They worked again with director Martin Ritt, their seventh project together, and withSally Field, who played the titular lead role inNorma Rae. DespiteMurphy's Romance being well-received (it was nominated for two Academy Awards), it was five years before another Frank and Ravetch screenplay was shot; hired by Martin Ritt, the couple wrote the screenplay forStanley & Iris (1990), loosely based on the novelUnion Street by British writerPat Barker.^[25][26]

Frank Jr. died at her home in Los Angeles on January 28, 2020, at age 96.^[3]

Ten months after the release ofStanley & Iris, on December 8, 1990, Martin Ritt died. Together, the trio of Frank, Ravetch and Ritt had collaborated on eight films and achieved considerable successes.^[25][27] As well as being the last film for Ritt,Stanley & Iris marked the end of Frank and Ravetch's writing careers.

In a career spanning 43 years and 21 film productions, Harriet Frank Jr. won four awards and received many nominations, sharing them all with her husband. As well as with her husband and Martin Ritt, Frank collaborated extensively with actors such asPaul Newman, writing for three of his film appearances (The Long, Hot Summer,Hud, andHombre).

• "Norma Rae screenwriter Irving Ravetch dies aged 89".British Broadcasting Company (BBC). September 22, 2010. RetrievedSeptember 23, 2010.
• Baer, William (November 2007).Classic American Films: Conversations with the Screenwriters. Praeger. pp. 95–109.ISBN 978-0-313-34898-3.
• Niemi, Robert (2006).History in the Media: Film and Television.ABC-CLIO. pp. 331–2.ISBN 978-1-57607-952-2.
• American Film Institute (AFI) (1997).The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States. University of California Press.ISBN 978-0-520-20970-1. Retrieved September 23, 2009.
• McGilligan, Pat (1997).Backstory 3, Interviews with Screenwriters of the 1960s. University of California Press. RetrievedMarch 20, 2012.

• Harriet Frank Jr. atIMDb

• 1923 births
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• Film producers from Oregon
• American women screenwriters
• University of California, Los Angeles alumni
• Writers Guild of America Award winners
• Screenwriters from Oregon
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• 21st-century American women

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