John Frankenheimer (1930-2002) was born in New York and became a star director of live television in the 1950s before moving to cinema. In a few years he made Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Seven Days in May (1964) and Seconds (1966), films of paranoia about brainwashing, military coups and the chance of a new life that turns out to be a trap. He liked wide-angle lenses, deep focus and cold, tense compositions, and kept working in thrillers for four more decades.
Filmography
- Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
- The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
- Seven Days in May (1964)
- Seconds (1966)