Frances Doel
Frances Margaret Doel | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 15 April 1942 |
| Died | 26 May 2025 (aged 83) |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, story editor |
| Spouse | Clint Kimbrough |
Frances Margaret Doel (15 April 1942 – 26 May 2025) was a British writer and story editor, notable for her long association with Roger Corman. Doel was head of the script department at New World Pictures; Jon Davison said that at one stage Doel "wrote just about every first draft of every picture" at New World.[1]
Joe Dante said there was a theory that the two people most responsible for Corman's success were Charles B. Griffith and Doel. Filmink magazine stated "Doel’s actual script credits don’t do justice to her career – she surpasses Griffith as the most influential writer in Corman’s career."[2]
Biography
[edit]Corman met Doel when looking for an assistant in the mid-1960s. He contacted a tutor at Oxford University and asked him who his finest student was; the tutor suggested Doel.[3] Doel was a graduating scholarship student of St. Hilda’s College.
She moved to Los Angeles to work for Corman and went with him when he set up New World Pictures. She was responsible for writing and developing scripts, co ordinating projects and in production and working as script supervisor.[4]
Corman liked to recruit writers from the world of novels and short stories rather than movies and TV, and relied on Doel to make recommendations. She helped discover John Sayles, being impressed by the latter's short stories and arranging for him to rewrite Piranha.[5][6] Sayles observed, " I always thought of Frances as the opposite of the kid who’s supposed to be reading Chaucer, but inside the book he’s got a comic book. She had the comic book on the outside and was actually reading the Atlantic.”[7]
Post-New World
[edit]In the early 1980s, Doel worked at Orion Pictures as an executive under Mike Medavoy, working on such films as The Terminator (1984), Robocop (1987), The Falcon and the Snowman (1985) and Desperately Seeking Susan (1985).
Doel worked as a development executive at Disney under Jeffrey Katzenberg. She co produced Starship Troopers with Jon Davison, who had worked at New World.
Doel returned to Corman to work for his Concorde-New Horizons.
Personal life
[edit]She was married to Clint Kimbrough who she divorced. She died on 26 May 2025, at the age of 83, survived by her longtime companion Harrison Reiner.[4]
Select credits
[edit]- Big Bad Mama (1974)
- Crazy Mama (1975) - story
- Deathsport (1978) - story
- Avalanche (1978) - story
- Raptor (2001)
- Dinocroc (2004)
- Supergator (2007)
- Dinoshark (2010)
References
[edit]- ^ Chris Nashawaty, Crab Monsters, Teenage Cavemen and Candy Stripe Nurses - Roger Corman: King of the B Movie, Abrams, 2013 p 130
- ^ Vagg, Sephen (13 May 2024). "Top Ten Corman – Part Two: Top Ten Screenwriters". Filmink.
- ^ Roger Corman & Jim Jerome, How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never lost a Dime, Muller, 1990 p 124
- ^ a b Gomez, Dessi (2025-05-31). "Frances Doel Dies: Roger Corman's Longtime Collaborator Was 83". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 2025-06-01.
- ^ Interview with John Sayles at The Hollywood Interview.com 2 March 2008 accessed 11 June 2012
- ^ 'Interview with Frances Doel' at Derek Castle's 1982 Screenplay Sales Directory reproduced in Temple of Schlock 11 August 2001 accessed 11 June 2012
- ^ Nashawaty p 155
External links
[edit]- Frances Doel at IMDb