Sandy Frank Dies: Legendary Distributor & ‘Name That Tune’ Producer Was 97

Sandy Frank, the veteran TV distributor and producer, has died at the age of 97.

Frank is best known for producing and distributing game shows such as Name That Tune and The Dating Game as well as bringing Japanese monster movies to the United States.

Starting out as a sales executive for Paramount Pictures in the late 1940s, Frank went on to work at NBC before becoming President of Worldwide Sales at Wrather Corporation, which produced and distributed Lassie and Lone Ranger.

He subsequently launched Sandy Frank Program Sales, where he sold series including You Asked For It before also moving into production with Sandy Frank Entertainment (SFE).

Series he worked on included Name That Tune, Face The Music, The Parent Game and The Dating Game.

Sandy Frank Entertainment also produced Battle of the Planets, a U.S. adaptation of the Japanese anime series Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, after discovering the series at Mip TV in Cannes. The series was an after-school hit throughout the 1970s.

He was also well known for bringing other Japanese content to the U.S. including the Gamera films with a number of them including Fugitive Alien and Time of the Apes appearing on Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Well known as a syndicator and distributor, Frank also funded a children’s orphanage in Cannes and would regularly arrange for Mip attendees, including buyers, to attend the orphanage during the market.

“For over 50 years, SFE was synonymous with a take no prisoners style of television sales. Mr. Frank was a bigger-than-life TV executive. To say he was unrelenting and tenacious would be an understatement. The lengths Mr. Frank would go to make a sale were legendary [even] if it meant forcing a plane to land to get to a meeting or being relentlessly persistent until the TV station program buyer finally surrendered and made a deal,” said Frank’s longtime collaborator Bob Cohen. “Sandy Frank was the opposite character of the schlepper salesman Billy Loman in Death of a Salesman. Mr. Frank cut a glamorous style of a TV executive jet-setting around the globe, usually with the arm of a beautiful lady companion. Handsome, lean, fashionable, Mr. Frank left an indelible mark on modern TV production and distribution.”

Frank’s proudest moment was acquiring the rights to Anwar Sadat’s autobiography with Sadat, the miniseries, produced in 1983 by Columbia Pictures with Frank becoming the first Jew to address the Egyptian Parliament.

The executive also championed the cause of independent TV production by fighting the repeal of the Prime-Time Access Rule (PTAR). The PTAR limited the hours the networks could program, benefiting independent producers.

“For those of us who loved him, he was caustic, manic, tough, generous, smart, fearless, sensitive, and a genius. He truly was one-of-a-kind, and his gravestone will read America’s Best TV Syndicator,” added Cohen.