Cyril Frankel

Cyril Frankel
Born	December 1921 (age 89) Stoke Newington, London, England, UK
Occupation	Film director Television director
Years active	1953-90

Cyril Frankel (born December 1921, Stoke Newington, London) is a British film and television director, now retired. His career in television began in 1953 and he directed for over 30 TV programmes until 1990.

He directed many episodes of popular British TV shows, such as The Avengers, and the pilot episodes of the ITC Entertainment shows Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and Department S in 1969. In 1970, he directed "Timelash", an episode of UFO, which he described as a very interesting script and one of his personal favourites.

Frankel also directed many documentaries and feature films, including Never Take Sweets from a Stranger (1960) and School for Scoundrels (1960; Robert Hamer was incorrectly credited as director). One of his films, Man of Africa (1953) - the first film to feature a cast made up of relatively unknown black actors - was not released and was apparently lost. A complete copy has since been discovered and has been screened at a number of international film festivals.

In terms of documentaries, Frankel produced many of the films that were broadcast for the BBC arts series Monitor (1958-65), among which was the first ballet programme to be filmed and edited to the choreography.

Before his retirement, he became the ceramics expert for Bonhams auction house. A book, Modern Pots: Hans Coper, Lucie Rie and their Contemporaries - The Lisa Sainsbury Collection, was co-authored by Frankel and published in 2000. His memoir, Eye to Eye, was due to be published by Bank House Books in 2009.

Selected filmography

• Man of Africa (1953)
• Make Me an Offer (1954)
• No Time for Tears (1957)
• Alive and Kicking (1959)
• Never Take Sweets from a Stranger (1960)
• School for Scoundrels (1960)
• On the Fiddle (1961)
• The Very Edge' (1962)
• Don't Bother to Knock (1961)

External links

• Cyril Frankel at the Internet Movie Database

Persondata
Name	Frankel, Cyril
Alternative names
Short description	Film and television director
Date of birth	December 1921
Place of birth	Stoke Newington, London, England, United Kingdom
Date of death
Place of death