Frank P. Rosenberg

TV, film producer

By VARIETY STAFF

Frank P. Rosenberg, longtime producer of TV and feature fare such as Marlon Brando starrer "One-Eyed Jacks" and the Bob Hope/Lucille Ball pic "Critic's Choice," died Oct. 18 in Thousand Oaks, Calif., after a short illness. He was 88.

Rosenberg began his career in the New York shipping department of Columbia Pictures at age 16 and moved up the ranks to run the national publicity and advertising operation for Columbia chief Harry Cohn. After World War II, Cohn brought Rosenberg to the Gower Street lot to run the studio's Hollywood publicity operation.

Eventually, though, Rosenberg left Col to join Darryl F. Zanuck and 20th Century Fox to become an independent producer when he bought the screen rights to the William L. Stuart novel "Night Cry." It was eventually released as "Where the Sidewalk Ends;" a story of a rogue New York City cop.

Zanuck signed on Rosenberg to produce more films for Fox including "The Secret of Convict Lake," "King of the Khyber Rifles," "Return of the Texan" and "The Farmer Takes a Wife."

Moving over to Warner Bros., Rosenberg produced "The Girl He Left Behind," "Illegal" and "Miracle in the Rain."

Rosenberg transitioned to the small screen, where he produced and later exec produced the "Schlitz Playhouse" TV series on CBS. Several shows he produced received special recognition including "The Lonely Wizard" which garnered several Emmy nominations and the award for its teleplay by Paul Monash.

Rosenberg left CBS to produce "One-Eyed Jacks" for Paramount. He next joined United Artists in an effort top rescue one of their CBS shows called "The Troubleshooters."

Rosenberg then went to Paris to acquire the screen rights to the life of Edith Piaf from the singer herself. After selling the rights to Warner Bros., Jack Warner invited him back to Burbank, where Rosenberg stayed to produce "Critic's Choice."

After that, he joined MCA as an executive producer of the unique weekly 90-minute dramatic series "Arrest and Trial" for ABC and performed the same task the following year for "Kraft Suspense Theatre."

During the 1970s and '80, he served in a number of executive capacities for various production companies.

He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Maryann; and two sons, John, a feature film editor, and James.