William Froug (May 26, 1922 – August 25, 2013) was an American television writer and producer. His producing credits included the series ''
The Twilight Zone
''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, su ...
'', ''
Gilligan's Island
''Gilligan's Island'' is an American sitcom created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz. The show's ensemble cast features Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, Tina Louise, Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells. It aired for thr ...
'', and ''
Bewitched
''Bewitched'' is an American fantasy sitcom television series that originally aired for eight seasons on ABC from September 17, 1964, to March 25, 1972. It is about a witch who marries an ordinary mortal man and vows to lead the life of a typic ...
''. He was a writer for, among other shows, ''
The Dick Powell Show
''The Dick Powell Show'' is an American television anthology series that ran on NBC from September 26, 1961, until September 17, 1963, primarily sponsored by the Reynolds Metals Company.
Overview
The series was an anthology of various dramas ...
'', ''
Charlie's Angels
''Charlie's Angels'' is an American crime drama television series that aired on ABC from September 22, 1976, to June 24, 1981, producing five seasons and 115 episodes. The series was created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts and was produced by Aa ...
'', and ''
Adventures in Paradise''. He authored numerous books on screenwriting, including ''Screenwriting Tricks of the Trade'', ''Zen and the Art of Screenwriting I and II, The Screenwriter Looks at The Screenwriter'', and ''How I Escaped from Gilligan's Island: Adventures of a Hollywood Writer-Producer,'' published in 2005 by the University of Wisconsin Press.
One of Froug's students, actor and screenwriter
Dan O'Bannon
Daniel Thomas O'Bannon (September 30, 1946 – December 17, 2009) was an American film screenwriter, film director, director and visual effects supervisor, usually in the science fiction and Horror fiction, horror genres.
O'Bannon wrote the scr ...
, included a reference to Froug in the 1974 film ''
Dark Star''. O'Bannon's character, Sergeant Pinback, claims that his real name is "Bill Froug."
Early life
William Froug was born in
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
in 1922 and placed for adoption through the Louise Wise agency there. Soon after, he was adopted by William and Rita Froug of
Little Rock, Arkansas
(The Little Rock, The "Little Rock")
, government_type = council-manager government, Council-manager
, leader_title = List of mayors of Little Rock, Arkansas, Mayor
, leader_name = Frank Scott Jr.
, leader_ ...
where he spent his childhood before the family moved to
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...
(
Froug's Department Stores). He graduated from Little Rock Senior High School in 1939. The family home of Froug's grandfather, Abraham Froug, has been preserved as a historic home and is located adjacent to the Governor's Mansion in the Little Rock Historic District.
Froug attended and graduated from the renowned
Missouri School of Journalism
The Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri in Columbia is one of the oldest formal journalism schools in the world. The school provides academic education and practical training in all areas of journalism and strategic comm ...
at the
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...
in 1943 before enlisting in the
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
. He was selected for the V7 Navy Officer Training Program at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
and graduated as one of the "90 Day Wonders".
He served as an officer aboard a subchaser stationed at Pearl Harbor before taking command of his own ship, , in 1945 at Eniwetok Atoll.
Writing career
After his honorable discharge in 1946, he set to work on his passion and gift for writing. He sold his first novella to ''True Detective Magazine'' in 1946. He then moved into radio writing and was Vice President of Programs at CBS Radio Hollywood by 1956.
Among his radio work, Froug produced, directed, and adapted for CBS Radio, Aldous Huxley's ''Brave New World'', which is listed as one of the 50 greatest radio programs of the 20th century. He then transitioned into television and in the 1958–59 awards period won both an
Emmy
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
and a Producer of the Year award for the
Alcoa-Goodyear Theatre
''Alcoa Theatre'' is a half-hour American anthology series telecast on NBC at 9:30 pm on Monday nights from September 30, 1957 to May 23, 1960. The program also aired under the title ''Turn of Fate''. ''Alcoa Theatre'' was syndicated together ...
production of ''Eddie''. He was also nominated for the Producer of the Year award by the
Producers Guild of America
The Producers Guild of America (PGA) is a 501(c)(6) trade association representing television producers, film producers and New media, New Media producers in the United States. The PGA's membership includes over 8,000 members of the producing esta ...
for his work on ''
Mr. Novak
''Mr. Novak'' is an American television dramatic series starring James Franciscus in the title role as a high school teacher. The series aired on NBC for two seasons, from 1963 to 1965. It won a Peabody Award in 1963.
Synopsis
The series follows ...
'', ''
Playhouse 90
''Playhouse 90'' was an American television anthology series, anthology drama series that aired on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. The show was produced at CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California. Since live anthology dr ...
'' and ''
The Twilight Zone
''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, su ...
''.
As a writer-producer he went on to write numerous optioned screenplays, one of which was bought by 3 different studios, and wrote and/or produced for such iconic television series as ''Adventures in Paradise'', ''The Twilight Zone'', ''Bewitched'' and ''Gilligan's Island''.
James Michener
James Albert Michener ( or ; February 3, 1907 – October 16, 1997) was an American writer. He wrote more than 40 books, most of which were long, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and ...
sent him a telegram congratulating him on the script he wrote for ''Adventures in Paradise'', "Angel of Death," calling it, "A real achievement."
His shows were called must-see TV for millions of viewers and fans. He wrote more than 200 scripts for other series' such as ''
Bonanza
''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 13, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 432 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running western, the second-longest-running western series on U ...
'', ''
Quincy M.E.'', ''
Paper Chase'' and ''
Charlie's Angels
''Charlie's Angels'' is an American crime drama television series that aired on ABC from September 22, 1976, to June 24, 1981, producing five seasons and 115 episodes. The series was created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts and was produced by Aa ...
'', among other top shows. The pilot for which he served as a producer, ''
Adam's Rib
''Adam's Rib'' is a 1949 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by George Cukor from a screenplay written by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin. It stars Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn as married lawyers who come to oppose each other in ...
'', was accepted into the permanent collection of the Museum of Broadcasting in New York.
Froug was nominated for another Emmy as producer on ''Bewitched'', became executive producer in charge of drama at CBS, and began lecturing at USC's film school before leaving for UCLA as an adjunct professor. He authored numerous books on screenwriters and screenwriting and continued in leadership positions with the Writers Guild of America West and Producers Guild of America. In 1987 Froug was honored with the prestigious Valentine Davies Award from the Writers Guild of America, West.
Teaching
As a tenured professor at UCLA, he revamped the screenwriting program and taught select graduate level courses. In a 1976 interview for the ''Los Angeles Times,'' Froug was quoted as saying. "I often tell my students at the first class that if one of them ever sells a screenplay, it will be a minor miracle".
By that time, he had taught more than 500 students at USC and UCLA and said he guessed that fewer than 10 percent of those students would be able to make a career in film, let alone screenwriting. Froug retired from UCLA in 1987.
As an author, Froug's books were used as textbooks in film schools around the world. In ''The Ultimate Writer's Guide to Hollywood'', author Skip Press describes Froug's ''Screenwriting Tricks of the Trade'' as "one of the best screenwriting books I've ever read" and listed the book in his ''Top 10 Hollywood Reads''.
In 2011, Froug was selected as one of the Emmy Legends of Television by the Archive of American Television. His interview is available online at EmmyLegends.org
The UCLA Film and Television Archives hold many of his scripts, interviews and legacy items. The UCSB Special Collection Library holds his extensive research documents on the "Oklahoma Run" which he used for a proposed series, ''El Dorado''.
Personal life
William Froug was a political and social activist and served on the boards of both the
Writers Guild of America, West
The Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) is a labor union representing film, television, radio, and new media writers. It was formed in 1954 from five organizations representing writers, including the Screen Writers Guild. It has around 20,000 m ...
and Producers Guild of America. In addition, he was a founding member of "The Caucus for Producers, Writers and Directors" for which he served as both chair and co-chair over the years. Froug died at the age of 91 in August 2013 in
Sarasota, Florida
Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sout ...
.
Roger Ebert once wrote of Froug, "I know an old writer. His name is William Froug, he lives in Florida and if you look him up on Amazon, you will see he is still writing brilliant and useful books about screenwriting and teleplays. He is not merely as sharp as a tack, he is the standard by which they sharpen tacks. If he had been advising the kid, the kid would have made a better movie, and if he had been advising the director of 'The Man in the Chair,' we would have been spared the current experience. Just because you're old doesn't mean you have to be a decrepit caricature. One thing that keeps Froug young is that, unlike Flash Madden, he almost certainly does not sit on an expressway overpass guzzling Jack Daniels from a pint bottle."
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Froug, William
1922 births
2013 deaths
Writers of books about writing fiction
Writers from Little Rock, Arkansas
UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television faculty
American male screenwriters
United States Navy personnel of World War II
Writers from New York City
American television writers
Television producers from New York City
American male television writers
Screenwriters from New York (state)
Screenwriting instructors
Missouri School of Journalism alumni
Bewitched
Screenwriters from California
Screenwriters from Arkansas