Biography
Frank Pierson was an American writer, producer and director for film and television, honoured with an Academy Award in the category "Best Writing, Original Screenplay" for the movie "Dog Day Afternoon". He was a Harvard graduate with an BA in Cultural Anthropology.
Known For
Complete Filmography
A Star Is Born
2018
Original Film Writer
Seasoned musician Jackson Maine discovers — and falls in love with — struggling artist Ally. She has just about given up on her dream to make it big a...
A Natural Born World-Shaker: The Making of 'Cool Hand Luke'
2008
as Self
A documentary on the making of 'Cool Hand Luke' (1967).
The Brothers Warner
2008
as Self
An intimate portrait and saga of four film pioneers--Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack who rose from immigrant poverty through personal tragedies perseverin...
The Making of 'Dog Day Afternoon'
2006
as Self
A documentary chronicling the making of the 1975 film "Dog Day Afternoon."
Paradise
2004
Director
Televangelist Bobby Paradise "saw God" in some space debris when he was returning to Earth as an astronaut. Or at least he was convinced he did by his...
Soldier's Girl
2003
Director
This true story, which takes place in Fort Campbell, KY, tells the heart-wrenching story of the life and tragic death of soldier Barry Winchell. His l...
Conspiracy
2001
Director, Executive Producer
At the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942, senior Nazi officials meet to determine the manner in which the so-called "Final Solution to the Jewish...
Dirty Pictures
2000
Director
A Cincinnati museum director goes on trial in 1990 for exhibiting sadomasochistic photographs taken by Robert Mapplethorpe.
Truman
1995
Director
Biographical account of America's President for the latter part of WWII. Shows Truman's rise from small-town nobody to leader of the USA, his decision...
Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee
1994
Director
Mary Crow Dog, daughter of a desperately poor Indian family in South Dakota, is swept up in the protests of the 1960s and becomes sensitized to the in...
Citizen Cohn
1992
Director
As lawyer and power broker Roy Cohn lies dying of AIDS in a private hospital room, ghosts from his past visit him as he reflects on his life and loves...
Presumed Innocent
1990
Screenplay
Rusty Sabich is a deputy prosecutor engaged in an obsessive affair with a coworker who is murdered. Soon after, he's accused of the crime. And his fig...
Somebody Has to Shoot the Picture
1990
Director
Taut thriller about a photographer who races the clock to clear a man about to be executed.
In Country
1989
Screenplay
Samantha Hughes, a teenaged Kentucky girl, never knew her father, who died in Vietnam before her birth. Samantha lives with her uncle Emmett, who also...
King of the Gypsies
1978
Director, Screenplay
Zharko, leader of the Romanis in NYC, passes his position of leadership on to his unwilling grandson, Dave, leading to infighting between Dave and hi...
A Star Is Born
1976
Director, Screenplay
Drunken, has-been rock star John Norman Howard falls in love with unknown singer Esther Hoffman after seeing her perform at a club. He lets her sing a...
Dog Day Afternoon
1975
Screenplay
Based on the true story of would-be Brooklyn bank robbers John Wojtowicz and Salvatore Naturile. Sonny and Sal attempt a bank heist which quickly turn...
Amanda Fallon
1973
Writer
A dedicated family doctor tries to help a pregnant teen-ager.
The Anderson Tapes
1971
Screenplay
Thief Duke Anderson—just released from ten years in jail—takes up with his old girlfriend in her posh apartment block, and makes plans to rob the enti...
The Neon Ceiling
1971
Director
A housewife and her teenage daughter, fleeing their boring lives, stop in a diner in the California desert. She runs up against the diner's owner, a g...
The Looking Glass War
1970
Writer, Director
When a Polish sailor jumps ship in Britain, a couple of local intelligence operatives keep him under surveillance. Soon, he’s recruited to infiltrate ...
Cool Hand Luke
1967
Screenplay
When petty criminal Luke Jackson is sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm, he doesn't play by the rules of either the sadistic warden or the...
The Happening
1967
Screenplay
A group of young drifters kidnap wealthy businessman Roc Delmonico just for kicks. They keep him captive, demanding a ransom for his safe release. How...
Cat Ballou
1965
Screenplay
A woman seeking revenge for her murdered father hires a famous gunman, but he's very different from what she expects.