| Frank Harris | |
| Birth Date: | 18 July 1943 |
| Death Place: | Santa Barbara, California, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Director, producer, cinematographer |
Frank Harris (July 18, 1943 – April 27, 2020) was an American film director, producer, and cinematographer who has been working in films since the late 1970s. His work as a director includes Killpoint in 1984, Low Blow and The Patriot in 1986, If We Knew Then in 1987 and Lockdown in 1990. He originally worked as a television reporter.
His wife Canadian born Diane Stevenett (married 1980), has also appeared in a number of his films.[1] [2]
Before entering the film industry, Harris worked as a reporter for a California television station.
He began his career around 1976 or 1978 as a cinematographer with Enforcer from Death Row aka Ninja Assassins, a film that featured Leo Fong, Darnell Garcia, John Hammond, Cameron Mitchell, Ann Farber and Booker T. Anderson.[3] [4] [5] He then applied his cinematography skills to the film Goldrunner, a film about a kidnapped child, which starred Richard Losee and Kristin Kelly. Harris also had an acting role in the film as the mechanic.[6] [7] He took on multiple tasks in the 1984 film, Killpoint. He was the film's director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer.[8] [9]
Killpoint, a 1984 film that starred Leo Fong, Hope Holiday, Cameron Mitchell, Stack Pierce and Richard Rountree, Diane Stevenett was his directorial debut. It also featured James Lew and Bill Wallace.[10] [11] In 1986 he directed Low Blow, another Leo Fong Film that featured Billy Blanks and Akosua Busia, early 1960s heartthrob Troy Donahue and Stack Pierce.[12] [13] This film gave Blanks his first credited film role.[14] [15] Also in 1986 he directed The Patriot, a film about a disgraced navy seal that goes after terrorists that steal nuclear missiles.[16] It starred Gregg Henry, Simone Griffeth, Jeff Conaway, Leslie Nielsen and Stack Pierce.[17] 1990 he directed Aftershock, a Sci-Fi film set in Set in a post-apocalyptic 21st Century.[18] It starred Elizabeth Kaitan, Chuck Jeffreys, James Lew, Richard Lynch, Christopher Mitchum, John Saxon and Michael Standing[19] [20]
As a cinematographer, Harris's early work was with Leo Fong in Enforcer from Death Row which starred Cameron Mitchell, Leo Fong, Booker T. Anderson, and Darnell Garcia.[21] In the 1980s, he worked on the Joel Silberg directed Catch the Heat, an action film about a female agent / martial expert operating in Argentina. It was released in 1987.[22] Harris was back working with Leo Fong in Showdown. The 1993 film which also starred Richard Lynch and Werner Hoetzinger was about a town of Mafia retirees that have their sanctuary invaded by a motorcycle gang.[23] [24] Harris worked on the 2009 television series . Already a seasoned veteran, he was in charge of the camera crew.[25] [26]
| Title | Year | Notes # |
|---|---|---|
| Killpoint | 1984 | |
| Low Blow | 1986 | |
| The Patriot | 1986 | [27] |
| If We Knew Then | 1987 | |
| Girl Talk | 1989 | [28] |
| Aftershock | 1990 | |
| Lockdown | 1990 | [29] |
| Title | Director | Year | Notes # |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ninja Assassins | 1976 | ||
| Goldrunner | Richard Losee | 1980 | |
| Killpoint | Frank Harris | 1984 | |
| 24 Hours to Midnight | Leo Fong | 1985 | |
| Low Blow | Frank Harris | 1986 | |
| The Patriot | Frank Harris | 1986 | |
| Hawkeye | George Chung | 1986 | |
| Lockdown | Frank Harris | 1990 | |
| Black Belt Angels | Chi Kim | 1994 | |
| Skyscraper | Raymond Martino | 1996 | |
| Brazilian Brawl | Leo Fong | 2003 | |
| Transformed | Efren C. Piñon | 2005 | |
| Let's All Kill Harold | Jim Skidmore | 2015 | |
| Title | Role | Director | Year | Notes # |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goldrunner | Mechanic | Richard Losee | 1980 | [31] |
| Low Blow | Uncredited role | Frank Harris | 1986 | |
| Title | Episode # | Role | Director | Year | Notes # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Critter Gitters | The Flying Professor | first assistant camera | Bryan Curb | 1998 | |
| Critter Gitters | Kinetics Catastrophe I & II | first assistant director | Bryan Curb | 1999 | |
| Critter Gitters | Cow Pie Bingo | first assistant director | Eric D. Howell | 1999 | |
| Out of the Void | Cinematographer | Mark Allen | 2009 | ||
| Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight | Back in Black | Cinematographer | Mark Allen | 2009 | |
| Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight | A Hero's Fall | Cinematographer | Mark Allen | 2009 | |
| Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight | Dark Deception | Cinematographer | Steve Wang | 2009 | |
| Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight | The Enemy Within | Cinematographer | Steve Wang | 2009 | |
| Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight | A Dragon's Tale | Cinematographer | Steve Wang | 2009 | |
| Title | Role | Director | Year | Notes # |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heart of the Soul with Gary Zukav | Camera | Bill Einreinhofer | 2002 | |
| Barbaro | camera operator | Frank Deford | 2008 | |