Sandy Frank, producer behind Battle of the Planets, dies at 97
Television producer and distributor Sandy Frank died on October 20 at age 97. His company brought the anime adaptation Battle of the Planets to U.S. audiences in 1978.
Born Sandel Frank on July 11, 1929, Frank entered the television business as a sales executive at Paramount Pictures in the late 1940s. He went on to work at Guild Films and NBC before taking the position of President of Worldwide Sales at Wrather Corporation.
In 1964, he founded Sandy Frank Program Sales, his own television program syndication company. He expanded its operations in 1978 and renamed it Sandy Frank Entertainment.
His company became known for producing and distributing game shows, including Name That Tune, The Dating Game, and Face the Music.
Through the company, Frank produced and distributed Battle of the Planets in 1978, adapting the anime Kagaku Ninja-Tai Gatchaman for U.S. audiences in English. He subsequently worked on another Gatchaman adaptation, G-Force: Guardians of Space. His company also distributed and dubbed Japanese monster films from Daiei Film.
Source: Deadline (Peter White)
