Frank Price

William Francis Price Jr. (May 17, 1930 – August 25, 2025) was an American television writer and film studio executive. 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. Provided by Wikipedia