Gary Franklin (September 22, 1928 – October 2, 2007) was a well-known German American broadcast film critic based in Los Angeles, California. Gary Franklin was born to a Jewish family in Leipzig, Germany on September 22, 1928. His family moved to the United States in 1938 to escape persecution by the Nazis. Franklin earned a bachelor's degree in film at the City College of New York. He worked as a cameraman for the U.S. Army during the Korean War. He began creating documentaries in New York and Canada following his return for the war.Franklin began his broadcasting career in 1954 in Virginia. He worked for several radio and television stations throughout the United States before his career led him to Los Angeles in 1972 where he became a roving night-side news reporter for all-news radio station KFWB. While at KFWB, Franklin occasionally contributed film reviews and in 1981 he was hired by KNXT (now KCBS-TV) as a full-time film critic. Franklin's career as a film critic was most associated with KABC-TV where he was employed from 1986 to 1991. While at KABC-TV, he used a 1-to-10 ratings scale (10 being the best) calling it "The Franklin Scale" for his movie reviews.Gary Franklin suffered four separate strokes in the final years of his life. He died on October 2, 2007 at his home in Chatsworth, California at the age of 79.
I have always let my social conscience influence my criticism. People should be speaking out about the effects of movie violence, brutality and sexuality in the world, and I'm glad I've had the chance to make a tiny impact...That's how I'd like to be remembered. And perhaps for having saved [my viewers] a few bucks here and there.
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Fact
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Studied film at New York City College and earned a BA in film before working in broadcasting in the early 1950s in Virginia.
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Joined the radio station KFWB-AM in 1972 in California as a reporter and eventually moved to TV in 1981 where he became an established bald-pated movie and entertainment critic for several stations. Later hooked up as an entertainment reporter at KCOP in 1992.
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Was born to a Jewish family in Leipzig, Germany. His family moved to the United States in 1938 to escape the Nazi invasion.
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Served in the Army as a combat and documentary cameraman in Korea before producing television documentaries in New York and Canada.
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A passionate opponent of film violence according to a 1997 story in Variety, Franklin became persona non grata at Warner Bros. after director Oliver Stone received a zero on the "Franklin Scale" for Natural Born Killers (1994), which Franklin deemed a "cultural crime." Elsewhere, Madonna once earned a "minus 5" from Franklin for her film documentary Madonna: Truth or Dare (1991).
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Popular Los Angeles-based television film critic who created "the Franklin Scale" a film ratings system of 1 to 10 where 1 is the worst and 10 being the best.
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn
1997
Gary Franklin
Police Story
1979
TV Series
Newsman Bill Heath
Rollercoaster
1977
Radio Reporter
Known for movies
An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1997) as Gary Franklin
$1 Million
