The Lives of Benjamin Franklin is a 1974 American television miniseries that chronicles the life of Benjamin Franklin.
| Benjamin Franklin | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | The Lives of Benjamin Franklin |
| Genre | Biography Drama History |
| Written by | Howard Fast Loring Mandel |
| Directed by | Glenn Jordan |
| Starring | Willie Aames Eddie Albert Beau Bridges Melvyn Douglas Richard Widmark |
| Theme music composer | Billy Goldenberg |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | 4 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Lewis Freedman |
| Producers | Glenn Jordan George Lefferts |
| Running time | 360 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | CBS |
| Release | November 21, 1974 – January 28, 1975 |
The series was broadcast by CBS and won five Emmy Awards, including the award for Outstanding Limited Series.[1] Howard Fast won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for the first installment (The Ambassador). Glenn Jordan was also nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for The Ambassador episode, and Loring Mandel was nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for The Whirlwind episode.[2]
The four 90-minute episodes[3] debuted on November 21 and December 17, 1974, and January 9 and 28, 1975.[4][5][6][7][8]
Cast
edit- Willie Aames as Franklin at age 12
- Beau Bridges as Franklin the young man
- Eddie Albert as Franklin the diplomat
- Richard Widmark as Franklin the rebel
- Melvyn Douglas as Franklin the elder statesman
See also
edit- List of films about the American Revolution
- List of television series and miniseries about the American Revolution
- Benjamin Franklin, 2002 TV series
- Benjamin Franklin, 2022 documentary film
- Franklin, 2024 miniseries
References
edit- ^ Scott, Vernon (20 May 1975). Mary's show most popular, Desert Sun, p. A-2 (UPI content)
- ^ Emmys.com listings, emmys.com, Retrieved 14 September 2020
- ^ (1 September 1974). Specials for the season, San Bernardino Sun
- ^ O'Connor, John J. (21 November 1974). TV: Sly, Amusing Benjamin Franklin, The New York Times, p. 95.
- ^ O'Connor, John J. (17 December 1974). TV: CBS Dramas on Ben Franklin Going Smoothly, The New York Times, p, 75.
- ^ O'Connor, John J. (28 January 1975). TV: Enlightening Study of Franklin Ends Tonight, The New York Times, p. 67.
- ^ Gardella, Kay (21 November 1974). Ben Franklin Star of Bicentennial Series, New York Daily News, p. 59.
- ^ *31 July 1974). Get a Line on the Real Ben, Indianapolis News (details of upcoming series; incorrectly reports that Franklin had 13 illegitimate children, a common false tale)
External links
edit- The Lives of Benjamin Franklin at IMDb
- Charles Lisanby on designing the sets for the miniseries Benjamin Franklin (video), televisionacademy.com