Biography (Press Kit)

     The multi-faceted challenges of making a large-scale feature film using almost half the world as location sites, with technical equipment scarcely off the drawing boards, and with a necessarily-nigh budget that was constantly subjected to the ravages of inflation was currently met with customary zest by William Frye, producer of "Raise The Titanic!" contemporary action-adventure drama directed by jerry Jameson from a screenplay by Adam Kennedy.

     A producer of unflagging good taste and enormous energy, Frye brings a gift for detail, a talent for organization and a diplomatic charm to bear on the ambitious undertaking that has become the screen version of Clive Cussler' international best-seller about one of the most prodigious feats ever attempted by modern man.

     Producer of the box-office blockbusters, "Airport '75" and "Airport '77" Frye began his show business career as an agent for many top Hollywood stars.  In the early 1950s, he first entered production as associate producer of the "Four Star Playhouse" television series in association with actors Dick Powell, David Niven and Charles Boyer.

     In 1953, Frye formed a partnership with Ronald Colman to produce "A String Of Beads," starring Colman and Angela Lansbury.  This production led to the formation of a company to bring the popular radio series, "The Halls of Ivy," to television with Colman and his wife Benita Hume as the title stars.

     Frye, then joined Revue Productions to produce for five years the "General Electric Theater," with Ronald Reagan as host.  The popular drama anthology series utilized the talents of virtually every top star in Hollywood, most of whom were Frye's personal friends.  To his day, he has a close relationship with most of them.

     Following his association with the "General Electric Theater," Frye produced the "Johnny Staccato" pilot film starring John Cassavetes and ruing the 1959-60 season was the executive producer of this popular series, as well as "The Deputy" western series starring Henry Fonda.

     For the Ford Startime specials, Frye produced the hour-long shows, "Cindy's Fella" starring James Stewart and "The Juggler" with Tony Curtis.  He acted as executive producer on the CBS-TV special, "The Slowest Gun In The West," which starred Jack Benny and Phil Silvers.  Frye also produced Academy Award winner Simone Signoret's first television appearance in "Don't You Remember?" co-starred with Lee Marvin on the "General Electric Theater."

    During 1960, Frye also produced several episodes of the "Markham" series, which starred Ray Milland.  Between 1960 and 1962, he produced for the Hubbell Robinson Productions company 60 hour-long episodes of the Boris Karloff "Thriller" series.  These segments today are still hailed as master-pieces of plot and action.

     In the fall of 1962, Frye produced a one-hour special on Princess Grace Of Monaco and her family and then, until the end of his contractual term with Revue Productions in July 1963, he acted as executive producer for the expanded "Alfred Hitchcock Hour."

     Frye entered feature film production in 1965 with Columbia Pictures and produced "The Trouble With Angels," starring Rosalind Russell and Hayley Mills which was released in 1966.

     "Where Angels Go--Trouble Follows!" starring Rosalind Russell and Stella Stevens was another William Frye Production for Columbia.  It was released in 1968.

     Frye returned to Universal (Parent company of Revue Productions) in 1970, to work on the pilot of "Banacek."  Since then, he has produced such television features as "The Screaming Woman," starring Olivia De Havilland; "The Longest Night," starring David Janssen and James Farentino; "The Victim," starring Elizabeth Montgomery and Eileen Heckart (the top-rated among 63 movies during the 1972-1973 season); "She Cried Murder," starring Telly Savalas, and "The Elevator," starring Myrna Loy, James Farentino, Roddy McDowall, Carol Lynley and Teresa Wright.

     Frye had begun his lengthy association with Hollywood figures when he first served as editor in Hollywood for the "This Week" Sunday supplement.  After agenting and producing radio programs and live television, he turned to filmmaking and has been recognized as a top producer in that medium ever since.

     Born in Monterey, California, Frye was educated there and in northern California before coming to Hollywood.  Today, a world-traveled "bon vivant," he numbers close friends in the capitals of every principal country and still travels extensively to visit them.

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Filmography-Thanks goes to the Internet Movie Database again.