Veteran U.S. syndicator Sandy Frank passed away on October 20, and now he’s resting in Putnam Valley, New York. Frank, who “couldn’t retire because I didn’t play golf,” died at the ripe age of 97, still working. VideoAge featured Frank in its “Hall of Fame” feature of October, 2016.
From 1976 through the early part of 1980, Sundel “Sandy” Frank was an imposing figure at MIP-TV markets. Some people still remember the large booth space he rented at the old Palais, and the bus trips he organized during those markets for press and program buyers to visit an orphanage outside Cannes, where he ceremoniously donated a large check each time.
In his “Hall of Fame” feature, Frank recalled: “The biggest challenge I faced when I began my business in the fall of 1964 was surviving alone. The networks controlled all of primetime and the majors controlled all of the early fringe with their off-network programming, so there was virtually no place for an independent [like me] to find a time period for [my] show.
Frank’s career in the entertainment business started in 1949 at Paramount Pictures when, at the age of 20, he served as a part-time booker and sales trainee.
Frank recalled that meeting both Sadat and Begin was the highlight of his career, and as an American Jew, he was proud of being in Sadat’s limousine when he announced he would visit Israel in 1977. However, the movie on Begin (based on his 1951 book “The Revolt,” for which Frank paid $100,000) was never made, and Frank blames a former ABC executive who considered Begin a militant terrorist.
Over the course of his career, Frank sold franchises such as Lassie, Name That Tune, and The Dating Game. “I felt very confident that I could sell anything,” Frank said in an interview.
Frank was known to be health conscious and a germophobe, always traveling with lots of medicine. He would send employees home if they sneezed in his presence. Naturally, tobacco smoking was anathema to him.
Frank’s generosity was as well known as his eccentricities. He would lend money to friends in need. He would call friends who were not feeling well to offer medical advice, and at times, even make their doctors’ appointments.
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