Steve FrankenFilmography

Murphy Brown: Dial and Substance

Synopsis: While en route to a romantic rendezvous with Doris, Jim (Charles Kimbrough) is arrested for possessing marijuana. Although the weed is part of the "medicinal-purposes" stash that he had bought for Murphy (Candice Bergen) in the earlier episode "Waiting to Inhale", Jim gallantly refuses to reveal Read More

Seinfeld: The Maid

Synopsis: Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) hires a maid named Cindy (Angela Featherstone), with whom he soon begins having an affair -- trouble is, little cleaning is taking place any longer, and she still demands payment for services rendered. Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) "inherits" the phone number of a recently Read More

ER: Full Moon, Saturday Night

Synopsis: Michael Ironside makes his first appearance as new ER chief Dr. William Swift, who immediately sets the staff on its ear with his bizarre management style and intense perfectionism. Meanwhile, the rivalry between med student Carter (Noah Wyle) and Deb (Ming-Na) reaches a new height of absurdity. Read More

Breakfast of Aliens

Actors: Vic Dunlop, John Hazelwood, Steve Franken, Johnny Dark

Synopsis: An overweight, childish pizza delivery boy (Vic Dunlop, who wrote the movie) desperately wants to become a stand-up comic. One day he swallows a tiny alien who had become stuck in his cereal, and he becomes a popular Sam Kinison/Don Rickles-type insult comic. He also becomes a coke-snorting Read More

Transylvania Twist

Actors: Robert Vaughn, Teri Copley, Stephen Altman, Monique Gabrielle, Angus Scrimm, Ace Mask

Synopsis: In Transylvania Twist, producer Roger Corman and director Jim Wynorski make Mel Brooks movies look like Noël Coward drawing-room comedies. The film begins with nubile innocent Patty (Monique Gabrielle) being chasing through the woods by the Greatest Horror Hits of the 1980s --with Jason, Freddy Read More

Freeway

Actors: Darlanne Fluegel, James Russo, Billy Drago, Richard Belzer, Michael Callan

Synopsis: A crazed sniper picks off motorists at random, then taunts the authorities by providing cryptic clues to a radio psychiatrist. Sarah "Sunny" Harper (Darlanne Flugel), the fiancee of one of the victims, tries to piece together the evidence without official help, hopefully to beat the psycho at his Read More

Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis

Actors: Bob Denver, Dwayne Hickman, Connie Stevens, Sheila James, Steve Franken

Synopsis: The second of two TV-movie attempts to revive the Dobie Gillis sitcom series of the 1950s and 1960s, Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis rounds up as many cast members of the old show as humanly possible. Dwayne Hickman took a break from his busy career as a CBS daytime-drama executive to recreate Read More

Can't Buy Me Love

Actors: Patrick Dempsey, Amanda Peterson, Courtney Gains, Seth Green, Tina Caspary

Synopsis: Borrowing a chapter from the John Hughes school of teen comedy, this likeable caper was a box office success. Patrick Dempsey stars as Ronald Miller, a high school nerd about to enter his senior year, who longs for acceptance as one of the "cool kids." His next-door neighbor Cindy Mancini (Amanda Peterson Read More

High School USA

Actors: Michael J. Fox, Nancy McKeon

Synopsis: Michael J. Fox is among the young sitcom stars enlisted for this made-for-TV teen film, about a battle between the rich, popular kids and their average counterparts. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide Read More

Curse of the Pink Panther

Actors: Ted Wass, David Niven, Robert Wagner, Herbert Lom, Joanna Lumley, Capucine

Synopsis: Curse of the Pink Panther was released just after Trail of the Pink Panther with a script that has someone looking for the inept Inspector Clousseau and the fabulous stolen Pink Panther diamond at the same time. In Curse, Clifton Sleigh (Ted Wass) is a New York retread of the bumbling Inspector Read More

Not Just Another Affair

Synopsis: In this romantic comedy, an attorney finds himself frustrated when his lovely fiance, a marine biologist insists on remaining celibate until her wedding night. The film is also known as Perfect Affair. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Hardly Working

Actors: Jerry Lewis, Susan Oliver, Roger C. Carmel, Deanna Lund, Harold J. Stone

Synopsis: Jerry Lewis' first film in a decade stars the comedian as Bo Hooper, an unemployed circus clown who cannot hold down a job. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide Read More

There Goes the Bride

Actors: Tom Smothers, Twiggy, Martin Balsam, Sylvia Syms

Synopsis: Retrograde even at the time of its 1980 release, this filmed version of the mid-'70s play by the same title stars Tom Smothers as Timothy Westerby, the bumbling father of the bride, and his imaginary dance partner, Polly (Twiggy). Events of the chaotic wedding day are told in flashback as Westerby Read More

The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu

Actors: Peter Sellers, Helen Mirren, David Tomlinson, Sid Caesar, Simon Williams

Synopsis: Peter Sellers gets to play both hero and bad guy at the same time in this comedy variation on Sax Rohmer's infamous stories of Asian super-villian Fu Manchu. The 168-year-old Fu Manchu (Sellers) is starting to run out of the youth-preserving formula that has kept him alive and kicking for the past Read More

Terror Out of the Sky

Synopsis: This made-for-TV thriller is yet another tale of swarming killer bees. A sub-par sequel to The Savage Bees, this time around, a scientist and his cohorts set out to protect some innocent school kids from the attacking insects. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide Read More

The North Avenue Irregulars

Actors: Edward Herrmann, Barbara Harris, Susan Clark, Cloris Leachman, Karen Valentine, Michael Constantine

Synopsis: One of the bigger non-cartoon moneymakers for Disney in the 1970s, The North Avenue Irregulars is predicated on the premise of the "Neighborhood Watch" system. Priest Michael Hill (Edward Herrmann), newly arrived on North Avenue, decides to buck the patriarchal notions of his superiors by Read More

Kojak: May the Horse Be With You

Synopsis: After a retired police officer is found beaten, Kojak discovers that the ex-cop had been keeping an over-the-hill thoroughbread race horse in the police stables, in defiance of department rules. Now the old nag is missing, and Kojak wants to know why. Meanwhile, the horse's abductors are spreading Read More

Quincy, M.E.: The Last Six Hours

Synopsis: Quincy, M.E.'s fourth season begins several hundred miles away from Los Angeles, home turf for feisty medical examiner Quincy (Jack Klugman). After he and his girlfriend Barbara (Sharon Acker) are nearly run off the road in a very minor car accident, Quincy discovers that the driver, a woman, is Read More

Zuma Beach

Actors: Suzanne Somers, Steven Keats, Michael Biehn, Mark Wheeler, Kimberly Beck

Synopsis: A high-school boy's ho-hum summer at the beach turns into a dream-come-true when he is befriended by a beautiful but depressed singer whose career is on the wane. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Alice: Better Never Than Late

Synopsis: While Mel (Vic Tayback) takes a snooze in the storeroom, Alice (Linda Lavin) is left alone to man (or woman) the counter on a Saturday night. Unfortunately, this is the same evening that the diner is visited by a nervous young man with a gun in his hand and larceny in his heart. The holdup man is Read More

Avalanche

Actors: Rock Hudson, Mia Farrow, Robert Forster, Jeanette Nolan, Rick Moses

Synopsis: When an "I'm-just-makin'-money" developer plops his new ski lodge at the foot of a mountain, the locals warn him about snowslides. So it's not too long before a gigantic avalanche buries the lodge and all the snow bunnies in it. Rock Hudson plays the ski lodge owner and Mia Farrow is his Read More

The Man from Atlantis

Actors: Patrick Duffy

Synopsis: In this TV pilot that spawned a brief series on NBC during 1977-78, Patrick Duffy plays the title character--an amphibian/human, equipped with gills--who washes up on shore and is taken to the hospital to recover. When the American government finds out his identity, it recruits him to help in the Read More

It Happened at Lakewood Manor

Actors: Suzanne Somers

Synopsis: Just prior to her Three's Company superstardom, Suzanne Somers played the lead in the made-for-TV meller It Happened at Lakewood Manor. Boiled down to basics, this is a rehash of Jaws, with ants (!) substituting for sharks (the film's video release title, in fact, was Ants). A summer resort full Read More

The Missouri Breaks

Actors: Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Lloyd, Randy Quaid, Frederic Forrest

Synopsis: A rancher, a rustler, and a regulator face off in Arthur Penn's eccentric western. As a cover for their horse thievery, a gang of Montana rustlers, led by the laid-back Tom Logan (Jack Nicholson), buys a small farm adjacent to the ranch of their latest target/nemesis, Braxton (John McLiam). When Read More

The Reincarnation of Peter Proud

Actors: Michael Sarrazin, Jennifer O'Neill, Margot Kidder, Cornelia Sharpe, Paul Hecht

Synopsis: Max Ehrlich adapted his own novel for the screen in this fitfully amusing paranormal thriller. College professor Michael Sarrazin feels that someone else is inside him, and is led by his dreams to a small town where Margot Kidder (Black Christmas, Superman) has murdered her cheating husband. She Read More

Emergency!: Daisy's Pick

Synopsis: John (Randolph Mantooth) would like to date a new nurse named Daisy (Britt Lind), but it looks like he'll have to wait in line. Among the evening's emergency patients is a refrigerator repairman who ends up frozen to an ice-house floor, an elderly hobbyist (John Carradine) who has glued himself to Read More

Westworld

Actors: Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin, James Brolin, Alan Oppenheimer, Victoria Shaw

Synopsis: Welcome to Westworld, where nothing can go wrong...go wrong...go wrong....Writer/director Michael Crichton has concocted a futuristic "Disneyland for adults", a remote resort island where, for a hefty fee, one can indulge in one's wildest fantasies. Businessmen James Brolin and Richard Benjamin Read More

Adam-12: The Wednesday Warrior

Synopsis: Officer Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) has a low opinion of the Los Angeles Police Reserve, a group of private citizens who on a weekly basis don uniforms as volunteer crimespotters. But Pete and his partner Jim Reed (Kent McCord) come to appreciate the worth of these "Wednesday warriors" when one of Read More

Adam-12: Badge Heavy

Synopsis: Several years before he turned to screenwriting--and winning an Oscar for his contributions to the 1978 film The Deer Hunter in the process--Quinn Redeker appeared in a guest role in this Adam-12 episode. Redeker is cast as Officer Charlie Burnside, a rogue cop who uses excessive brutality when Read More

Adam-12: The Ferret

Synopsis: Steve Franken, best known to baby-boomers as the snotty Chatsworth Osborne Jr. on the old Dobie Gillis TV series, is here cast in a straight role as "The Ferret", a pro-environmental terrorist. Targetting manufacturers whom he regards as shameless polluters, the Ferret specializes in giving these Read More

Bewitched: Samantha and the Loch Ness Monster

Actors: Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick Sargent, Agnes Moorehead, David White, Erin Murphy

Synopsis: While visiting the Scottish village of Inverness, Samantha discovers that the legendary Loch Ness monster is actually a warlock named Bruce (Steve Franken), who was transformed into his present beastly state by his jealous girlfriend -- none other than Sam's lookalike cousin, Serena. In attempting Read More

Which Way to the Front?

Actors: Jerry Lewis, John Wood, Jan Murray, Steve Franken, Dack Rambo

Synopsis: Brendan (Jerry Lewis) is an eccentric multimillionaire who is rejected for military service in this misfired comedy. Eager to help the Allies, he gathers a quartet of offbeat irregulars and sails to Italy to join the conflict. Brendan captures a Nazi general and masquerades as the enemy. When Read More

The F.B.I.: Pressure Point

Synopsis: Gambling house operator Scott Rogers (Fred Beir) may have reason to regret his eagerness to buy his way into the Cosa Nostra. After his new Mob cohorts bump off an awkward witness to his criminal activities, Roberts finds himself at the center of an FBI investigation headed by Inspector Erskine Read More

Bewitched: Samantha's Shopping Spree

Actors: Elizabeth Montgomery, Agnes Moorehead, Erin Murphy, Diane Murphy, Steve Franken

Synopsis: Frequent Bewitched supporting actor Steve Franken shows up on this occasion in the role of Samantha's prankish cousin Henry. Accompanying Sam and Tabitha on a shopping trip, Henry causes trouble not only for his loved ones but also an overenthusiastic salesman named Joey Hinkley Jr. (Jonathan Read More

Number One

Actors: Charlton Heston, Jessica Walter, Bruce Dern, John Randolph, Diana Muldaur

Synopsis: Ron Catlin (Charleton Heston) is a pro-football player who realizes his playing skills have eroded. His actions on the field have slowed to the point where retirement looms. His wife Julie (Jessica Walter) has her own fashion-designing business and his former teammate Richie (Bruce Dern) has Read More

The Party

Actors: Peter Sellers, Claudine Longet, Marge Champion, Steve Franken, Fay McKenzie, Gavin MacLeod

Synopsis: Peter Sellers plays a bumbling foreigner once again (but this time he's not from France) in this cult-favorite comedy. Hrundi V. Bakshi (Peter Sellers) is an accident-prone actor from India who has come to California, hoping to make a name for himself in Hollywood movies. However, Bakshi quickly Read More

Panic in the City

Actors: Howard Duff, Linda Cristal, Stephen McNally, Nehemiah Persoff

Synopsis: A murder investigation uncovers a plot that could destroy the world as we know it in this thriller. When a scientist doing research on nuclear weapons is murdered during a hospital stay, federal investigator Dave Pomeroy (Howard Duff) is called in to find out who killed him and why. With the help Read More

Angel in My Pocket

Actors: Andy Griffith, Jerry Van Dyke, Kay Medford, Lee Meriwether, Henry Jones

Synopsis: Minister Sam (Andy Griffith) and his wife Mary Elizabeth (Lee Meriweather) move to a Kansas town divided by political concerns that stall the town's progress. Will Sinclair (Henry Jones) and Alex Gresham (Edgar Buchanan) have allowed a long-standing family argument to impede the progress of the Read More

Bewitched: Darrin Gone! And Forgotten?

Actors: Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York, Agnes Moorehead, Erin Murphy, Diane Murphy

Synopsis: Mercedes McCambridge guest stars as ancient witch Carlotta, an old "friend" of Samantha's mother, Endora. Years earlier, Endora had promised that Sam would marry Carlotta's namby-pamby warlock son, Juke (Steve Franken). Now, Carlotta threatens to utterly destroy Darrin if the promise is not Read More

Bewitched: Samantha's Secret Saucer

Actors: Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York, Agnes Moorehead, Erin Murphy, Diane Murphy

Synopsis: Hoping to retrieve Tabitha's toy flying saucer, Aunt Clara accidentally summons a genuine spaceship from the dog star Sirius, bearing two canine-like aliens named Alpha (Hamilton Camp) and Orvis (Steve Franken). The crisis intensifies when a pair of Air Force officers (Larry D. Mann and Eldon Quick Read More

Mission: Impossible: The Slave, Part Two

Actors: Peter Graves, Barbara Bain, Martin Landau, Greg Morris, Peter Lupus

Synopsis: In the second half of the two-part Mission: Impossible adventure "The Slave", the IMF force has kidnapped Amara (Antoinette Bower), the niece of corrupt Elkabaran King Ibn Borca (Joseph Ruskin), Fasar (David Mauro), and sold her into slavery. It is all part of a plan to end the slave trade in Read More

Mission: Impossible: The Slave, Part One

Actors: Peter Graves, Barbara Bain, Martin Landau, Greg Morris, Peter Lupus

Synopsis: The first multipart adventure of Mission: Impossible's second season, "The Slave" was written by William Read Woodfield and Alan Balter. The scene is the Persian Gulf state of Elkabar, where King Ibn Borca (Joseph Ruskin) supervises a vicious but entirely legal slave ring with the aid of his crony Read More

Bewitched: Follow That Witch, Part One

Actors: Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York, Agnes Moorehead, Robert Strauss

Synopsis: In the first installment of a two-part story, Robert Strauss is cast as Charlie Leach, a sleazy private detective. Hired by one of Darrin's clients to do a background check on Samantha, Charlie discovers that Sam is really a witch. But instead of reporting to his boss, Charlie makes a beeline to Read More

Bewitched: A Gazebo Never Forgets

Actors: Elizabeth Montgomery, Agnes Moorehead, Erin Murphy, Diane Murphy, Marion Lorne

Synopsis: In her neverending efforts to entertain baby Tabitha, Aunt Clara conjures up a polka-dotted baby elephant in the Stephens living room. Samantha demands that the elephant be removed, but, of course, Clara doesn't remember how. Meanwhile, bank appraiser Hawkins (Steve Franken) shows up to make Read More

Wild, Wild Winter

Actors: Gary Clarke, Chris Noel, Steve Franken, Don Edmonds, Suzie Kaye

Synopsis: Directed by versatile standup comedian Lenny Weinrib, Wild Wild Winter is more palatable in its comic scenes than its musical interludes. Essentially a snowbound imitation of American-International's Beach Party series, the film stars such passing fancies of the 1960s as Gary Clarke, Chris Noel Read More

Follow Me, Boys!

Actors: Fred MacMurray, Vera Miles, Lillian Gish, Charlie Ruggles, Elliott Reid, Kurt Russell

Synopsis: Follow Me, Boys!, Disney's paean to the Boys Scouts of America, leaves no cliché unturned: we're even offered the old reliable "kid hanging over cliff by rope" bit. Corny, sentimental and obvious though it may be, the film is a delight to watch, especially whenever Fred MacMurray dominates the Read More

My Favorite Martian: Tim and Tim Again

Synopsis: Once again, Martin's duplicating machine malfunctions, and the result is two Tims (both played by Bill Bixby). Taking advantage of the situation, the "real" Tim puts his clone to work so that he will be free to go on a date. Alas, the "other" Tim turns out to be the proverbial evil twin, getting Read More

The Americanization of Emily

Actors: James Garner, Julie Andrews, Melvyn Douglas, James Coburn, Joyce Grenfell

Synopsis: The lively but somehow slightly distasteful The Americanization of Emily stars James Garner as a WWII naval officer who happens to be a craven coward. While his comrades sail off to their deaths, Garner makes himself scarce, generally hiding out in the London flat of his lothario navy buddy James Coburn Read More

Petticoat Junction: Bedloe and Son

Synopsis: Fresh from a five-year stint as insufferable boy millionaire Chatsworth Osborne Jr. on Dobie Gillis, Steve Franken appears in this episode as Homer Jr., the son of railroad troubleshooter all-purpose villain Homer Bedloe (Charles Lane). A true chip off the old block, Homer Jr. is every bit as Read More

The Time Travelers

Actors: Preston S. Foster, Philip Carey, Merry Anders, John Hoyt, Dennis Patrick

Synopsis: After a nuclear holocaust, a group of scientists travel to the future and find a world in tatters, where the human survivors must constantly defend themselves against mutated beasts. Upon seeing the future of the earth, the men would like to return to 1964, but find it may not be possible. Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Deadly Verdict

Synopsis: Extra! Extra! The unthinkable has happened! PERRY MASON HAS LOST A CASE! The jury brings in a guilty verdict, and Perry's client Janice Barton (Vera Miles) is convicted of murder and sentenced to the gas chamber. Though perennial also-ran Hamilton Burger (William Talman) should be elated, he is Read More

One Step Beyond: Night of Decision

Synopsis: The year is 1777: the place, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. With his troops demoralized and facing starvation, General George Washington (Robert Douglas) writes a letter to the Continental Congress, asking permission to negotiate peace terms with the British. As he wrestles with his conscience over Read More

Cop Hater

Actors: Robert Loggia, Gerald O'Loughlin, Ellen Parker, Shirley Ballard, Russell Hardie

Synopsis: On a boiling hot night in the middle of a steaming New York summer, Detective Mike Reardon is on his way to work when he is shot down execution style. His fellow officers at the 87th, led by detectives Steve Carelli (Robert Loggia) and Mike Maguire (Gerald S. O'Laughlin), can't come up with a Read More