John Frankenheimer

Born
February 19, 1930 · Queens, New York City, New York, USA
Died
July 6, 2002 · Los Angeles, California, USA (stroke due to complications following spinal surgery)
Birth name
John Michael Frankenheimer
Height
6′ 3″ (1.91 m)

When Burt Lancaster walked onto the set the first day of shooting of The Young Savages (1961), he was startled and dismayed to see the camera on the floor, aiming upward. Lancaster had never before worked with a director who used such innovative camera angles. He grew to trust Frankenhiemer, and they made four more films together.
Frankenheimer was initially set to direct Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), but was taken off the film because star Audrey Hepburn had never heard of him. Ironically that gave him the opportunity to do The Manchurian Candidate (1962).
The camera work of most directors in "The Golden Age" of TV drama was static, reflecting most TV directors' backgrounds in the theater, and they typically used blocking more appropriate for a stage production. Frankenhiemer was one of the first TV directors to use multiple camera angles, a moving camera, quick editing and close-ups.
Famous for his use of innovative camera angles, Frankenheimer was acclaimed for a shot in The Manchurian Candidate (1962) that is slightly out of focus. He said that the shot was an accident.
Steve Martin's long-time girlfriend in the 1970s, Mitzi Trumbo, left him for Frankenheimer. A number of years later, Frankenheimer tried unsuccessfully to seduce Martin's wife at the time, Victoria Tennant, according to Martin's autobiography.

It's very eclectic, the way one chooses subjects in the movie business, especially in the commercial movie business. You need to develop material yourself or material is presented to you as an assignment to direct.
I feel that my job is to create an atmosphere where creative people can do their best work. In other words, I have to create an atmosphere where these people feel safe, where they feel respected, and where they feel that they can contribute.
There are two things I will never do in my life. I will never climb Mount Everest, and I will never work with Val Kilmer again. There isn't enough money in the world. - in Premiere magazine, April 1997. (Frankenheimer directed the 1996 film The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996), which starred Val Kilmer, with whom he reportedly had personal differences.)
On referring to Val Kilmer and his personal feelings about him while making The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996): Will Rogers never met Val Kilmer.
No one ever looked like Burt Lancaster in "The Crimson Pirate. [on the impressive physique of friend Lancaster]