Frank Doubleday | WatchedThis
Frank Doubleday
Acting
Biography
Thin, intense, antsy, and often unnerving character actor Frank Doubleday usually portrayed creepy villains in both movies and TV shows alike from the mid-1970's up until the early 1990's. Frank was born on January 28, 1945 in Norwich, Connecticut and came with his family to Los Angeles, California at age six. Doubleday made his film debut as an aggressive switchblade-wielding punk thug in the hilariously raunchy comedy The First Nudie Musical (1976). Doubleday's lean, hollow-eyed, sunken-cheeked face, closely cropped light blonde hair, skinny limbs, and slim build gave him a striking and potent screen presence that was put to especially effective use in two pictures for director John Carpenter: He's genuinely scary as the vicious street gang leader who kills little girl Kim Richards in cold blood in the terrific urban action classic Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) and was likewise memorably freaky as Isaac Hayes' ghoulish flunky "Romero" in the excellent futuristic science fiction cult favorite Escape from New York (1981). Doubleday's other noteworthy parts are a mob kingpin's conceited jerk son in Avenging Angel (1985), a fidgety prison inmate in the nifty science fiction item Space Rage (1985), a ferocious member of a roving murderous band of supernatural Eskimo spirits in the spooky Nomads (1986), a mercenary in Broadcast News (1987), and a sweaty, twitchy hoodlum who holds a bunch of fat ladies hostage in a laundromat in the funky urban science fiction hoot Dollman (1991). Among the TV shows Doubleday did guest appearances on are Amazing Stories (1985), Sledge Hammer! (1986), Stingray (1985), T.J. Hooker (1982), Hill Street Blues (1981), CHiPs (1977), The Incredible Hulk (1978), Charlie's Angels (1976), Wonder Woman (1975) and Starsky and Hutch (1975). Outside of acting, Frank also directed stage plays and taught acting at the Hollywood Court Theater. Doubleday died at age 73 from esophageal cancer on March 3, 2018 in Los Angeles, California.
Filmography Movies
Acting
Escape from New York
In a world ravaged by crime, the entire island of Manhattan has been converted into a walled prison where brutal prisoners roam free. After the US president crash-lands inside, war hero Snake Plissken has 24 hours to bring him back.
Nomads
One night, in a Los Angeles hospital, Dr. Flax attends to a seriously injured man who, apparently crazed, whispers mysterious and disconcerting words in French into her ear.
Assault on Precinct 13
A highway patrol officer, two criminals, and a station secretary form an unlikely alliance to defend a defunct Los Angeles precinct against a siege by a bloodthirsty street gang.
Dollman
Brick Bardo is a traveller from outer space who is forced to land on Earth. Though regular sized on his home planet, he is doll-sized here on Earth, as are the enemy forces who have landed as well. While Brick enlists the help of an impoverished girl and her son, the bad guys enlist the help of a local gang. When word leaks out as to his location, and all hell breaks loose, Brick is besieged by an onslaught of curious kids, angry gang members, and his own doll-sized enemies, and he must protect the family who has helped him and get off the planet alive.
Space Rage
In this sci-fi/western film set two hundred years from now, a bank robber, Grange is captured and sentenced to the penal colony on the mining planet Proxima Centauri 3 where he meets bounty-hunter Walker, and the Colonel, a retired policeman from LA who was considered the best of his kind. Grange is a dangerous lunatic and Walker and the Colonel must team up to keep him from escaping.
L.A. Bounty
Mayor candidate Mike Rhodes is kidnapped in his own home outside of Los Angeles by unknown, masked terrorists. His wife Kelly barely survives the attempted murder on her, and is able to identify one of the kidnappers. She's placed on the police's protection list while the investigation is ongoing. Ruger, a tough and merciless bounty hunter is out on the streets avenging her partner's death. With Kelly as her bait, Ruger starts a dangerous game to bring Cavanough, a crazed crime kingpin behind the kidnapping, out of hiding.
Longarm
A showdown is staged between a U.S. deputy marshal and the outlaw gang that raised him in the New Mexico Territory of 1887.
The First Nudie Musical
The heir to a bankrupt studio decides to make a daring musical to avoid demolition, agreeing to finish it in two weeks or lose ownership.
Alex & the Gypsy
A bail bondsman falls in love with one of his "customers" — a gypsy girl, who's been accused of attempted murder.
Abar, the First Black Superman
Upon moving into a bigoted neighborhood, the scientist father of a persecuted black family gives a superpower elixir to a tough bodyguard, who thus becomes a superpowered crimefighter.
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