Frank Price was an American television writer, studio executive and producer. He held a number of executive positions including head of Universal TV; president, and later chairman and CEO, of Columbia Pictures; and president of Universal Pictures. He is credited with helping in the 1960s to develop the "made-for-TV movie" and the 90-minute miniseries television format, including The Virginian (1962–1970).
As a studio president, Price oversaw the production of or greenlit famous films of the 1980s including Out of Africa, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1985, Tootsie (1982), Gandhi (1982) and The Karate Kid (1984). He greenlit Howard the Duck (1986), which became one of the worst flops in film history and caused him to resign from Universal. Price saved from obscurity the script for Back to the Future (1985), and made the decision to film other long-shots that became blockbusters including Boyz n the Hood (1991) and Ghostbusters (1984). As of 1990 he had been in charge of turning out nine of the ten top-grossing films in Columbia's history.
Price was born on May 17, 1930, in Decatur, Illinois. He died at his home in Santa Monica, California, on August 25, 2025, at the age of 95.
