Frank Paul De Felitta (August 3, 1921 – March 29, 2016) was an author, producer, pilot and film director. He was most well known for his novels '' Audrey Rose'' and ''The Entity.''

Life and career

Frank De Felitta was born in

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, New York City,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

on August 3, 1921. He served as a pilot in World War II and in 1945 returned to New York, where he began to write scripts. His first effort, for the weekly radio program ''The Whistler,'' a popular thriller series, earned him $350 and started him on his writing career. He continued to write radio scripts before turning to television, in which medium he was successful as a writer, producer, and director, winning Emmy nominations in 1963 and 1968 for his documentaries as well as a Peabody Award and several Writers Guild nominations. By the early 1970s he was working on film scripts, including two he wrote with

Max Ehrlich Max Michaelis Ehrlich (7 December 1892 – 1 October 1944) was a German actor, screenwriter, and director on the German theater, comedy and cabaret scene of the 1930s. Ehrlich began his career in the 1920s at various theatres, including leadin ...

, ''The Edict'' (1971) and '' The Savage is Loose'' (1974). ''The Edict'' was filmed as ''

Z.P.G. ''Z.P.G.'' (short for "Zero population growth, Zero Population Growth") is a 1972 Danish-American dystopian science fiction film directed by Michael Campus and starring Oliver Reed and Geraldine Chaplin. It was inspired by the best-selling 1968 ...

'' (1972), and both it and ''The Savage is Loose'' were published as novels by Max Ehrlich. De Felitta's first novel, ''Oktoberfest'' (1973), a thriller, though not a bestseller nonetheless earned him enough to finance the year and a half he devoted to his next novel, ''Audrey Rose'' (1975). This novel, a horror story involving reincarnation, was a smash bestseller, selling more than 2.5 million copies and spawning a successful 1977

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...

(scripted by De Felitta) and a sequel, ''For Love of Audrey Rose'' (1982). His novel ''The Entity'' (1978), based on the real-life case of a woman named

Doris Bither The Doris Bither case, also known as the Entity haunting, was a 1974 investigation into alleged paranormal phenomena in Culver City, California, experienced by a woman named Doris Bither. The case inspired Frank De Felitta's 1978 book ''The Entit ...

who claimed to have been haunted by a spectral rapist, was also a bestseller and was adapted by De Felitta for a 1982 film starring

Barbara Hershey Barbara Lynn Herzstein, better known as Barbara Hershey (born February 5, 1948), is an American actress. In a career spanning more than 50 years, she has played a variety of roles on television and in cinema in several genres, including weste ...

. Other successes include ''Golgotha Falls'' (1984) and the horror film ''

Dark Night of the Scarecrow ''Dark Night of the Scarecrow'' is a 1981 American made-for-television horror film directed by veteran novelist Frank De Felitta (author of '' Audrey Rose'') from a script by J.D. Feigelson. Feigelson's intent had been to make an independent feat ...

'' (1981), directed by De Felitta. He also directed the 1991 film ''Scissors'', starring

Sharon Stone Sharon Vonne Stone (born March 10, 1958) is an American actress. Known for primarily playing femme fatales and women of mystery on film and television, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1990s. She is the recipient of various ...

and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Frank De Felitta died on March 30, 2016, of natural causes.

Bibliography

* ''Oktoberfest'' (1973) * '' Audrey Rose'' (1975) * ''

The Entity ''The Entity'' is a 1982 American supernatural horror film directed by Sidney J. Furie, and written by Frank De Felitta, who adapted his 1978 novel of the same name. The film stars Barbara Hershey as a single mother in Los Angeles who is rape ...

'' (1978) * ''Sea Trial'' (1980) * '' For Love of Audrey Rose'' (1982) * '' Golgotha Falls'' (1984) * ''Funeral March'' (1990) * ''L'Opera Italiano''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:De Felitta, Frank 1921 births 2016 deaths 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists Film producers from New York (state) American male novelists American writers of Italian descent American male screenwriters American television directors Television producers from New York City United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II Writers from the Bronx 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Novelists from New York (state) Film directors from New York City Screenwriters from New York (state) American film directors of Italian descent