Television producer and distributor Sandy Frank, the man who brought Battle of the Planets to American audiences in 1978, has died at the age of 97. Frank passed away on October 20, Anime News Network confirmed on November 2.
Sandy Frank (Credits: Tatsunoko Production)
Sandy Frank’s Career From Paramount to Battle of the Planets
Born Sandel Frank on July 11, 1929, he began his career as a sales executive for Paramount Pictures in the late 1940s. He later worked at Guild Films and NBC before becoming President of Worldwide Sales at Wrather Corporation. In 1964, he founded his own television syndication company, Sandy Frank Program Sales, which became Sandy Frank Entertainment in 1978.
His company produced and distributed classic game shows including Name That Tune, The Dating Game, and Face the Music.
How Sandy Frank Brought Gatchaman to American TV
Frank’s most enduring legacy in the anime world came in 1978, when his company produced and distributed Battle of the Planets, the English-language U.S. adaptation of Tatsunoko’s Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. The series introduced a generation of American kids to anime, with its team of five bird-themed heroes and the iconic Phoenix ship.
He later worked on the G-Force: Guardians of Space adaptation of Gatchaman, and his company also distributed and dubbed Japanese Daiei Film monster movies.
Frank’s Battle of the Planets remains one of the first anime series to find mainstream success in America, paving the way for the anime boom that followed decades later.
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Source: Anime News Network — read the full story there.
