Frank Harris (director)

Frank Harris (July 18, 1943 – April 27, 2020) was an American film director, producer, and cinematographer who has been working in films since the late 1970s. His work as a director includes Killpoint in 1984, Low Blow and The Patriot in 1986, If We Knew Then in 1987 and Lockdown in 1990. He originally worked as a television reporter.

His wife Canadian born Diane Stevenett (married 1980), has also appeared in a number of his films.^[1][2]

Before entering the film industry, Harris worked as a reporter for a California television station.

He began his career around 1976 or 1978 as a cinematographer with Enforcer from Death Row aka Ninja Assassins, a film that featured Leo Fong, Darnell Garcia, John Hammond, Cameron Mitchell, Ann Farber and Booker T. Anderson.^[3][4][5] He then applied his cinematography skills to the film Goldrunner, a film about a kidnapped child, which starred Richard Losee and Kristin Kelly. Harris also had an acting role in the film as the mechanic.^[6][7] He took on multiple tasks in the 1984 film, Killpoint. He was the film's director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer.^[8][9]

Killpoint, a 1984 film that starred Leo Fong, Hope Holiday, Cameron Mitchell, Stack Pierce and Richard Rountree, Diane Stevenett was his directorial debut. It also featured James Lew and Bill Wallace.^[10][11] In 1986 he directed Low Blow, another Leo Fong Film that featured Billy Blanks and Akosua Busia, early 1960s heartthrob Troy Donahue and Stack Pierce.^[12][13] This film gave Blanks his first credited film role.^[14][15] Also in 1986 he directed The Patriot, a film about a disgraced navy seal that goes after terrorists that steal nuclear missiles.^[16] It starred Gregg Henry, Simone Griffeth, Jeff Conaway, Leslie Nielsen and Stack Pierce.^[17] 1990 he directed Aftershock, a Sci-Fi film set in Set in a post-apocalyptic 21st Century.^[18] It starred Elizabeth Kaitan, Chuck Jeffreys, James Lew, Richard Lynch, Christopher Mitchum, John Saxon and Michael Standing^[19][20]

As a cinematographer, Harris's early work was with Leo Fong in Enforcer from Death Row which starred Cameron Mitchell, Leo Fong, Booker T. Anderson, and Darnell Garcia.^[21] In the 1980s, he worked on the Joel Silberg directed Catch the Heat, an action film about a female agent / martial expert operating in Argentina. It was released in 1987.^[22] Harris was back working with Leo Fong in Showdown. The 1993 film which also starred Richard Lynch and Werner Hoetzinger was about a town of Mafia retirees that have their sanctuary invaded by a motorcycle gang.^[23][24] Harris worked on the 2009 television series Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight. Already a seasoned veteran, he was in charge of the camera crew.^[25][26]

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• Frank Harris at IMDb