Frank - ProfilesArchive

About Me

Try the BEST MySpace Editor and MySpace Backgrounds at MySpace Toolbox !Frank was a big guy, with a big heart. He was born October 19, 1903, in Sweden. Most of his adult life, he was a professional wrestler. Frank started appearing (uncredited, or bit parts) in movies as early as 1934. He was in 31 movies, usually as "Weightlifter" or "Strongman." Later, he got larger roles with character names. Frank was in the Bing Crosby-Bob Hope movie, "Road to Rio (1947)" as Samson; and had a part in Abbott and Costello in the "Foreign Legion (1950)" as Abou Ben.Contrary to how it was depicted in the semi-documentary "Ed Wood," that Wood approached Frank and asked him if he ever fancied the notion of becoming an actor (and starting his film career), Wood worked with Frank towards the end of his movie career. Wood got Frank to portray Lobo in "Bride of the Monster (1956)." After appearing in three other movies, Wood cast Frank in "Plan 9 from Outer Space (1958)." Then Wood had Frank reprise his role of Lobo for "Night of the Ghouls (1959)" -- in that movie, Paul Marco (Kelton the Cop) had a full load in the prop gun he fired at Frank, sparks hit Frank's arms, which by reflex hit Paul, knocking him unconscious in real life; Frank felt bad about that, but everybody knew it was just a case of the big guy not knowing his own strength.A friend and cohort of Wood's (and also a writer, director and producer in his own right) was Anthony "Tony" Cardoza. Wood lived in an apartment on Yucca Street (nicknamed "Yucca Flats"), and in 1961, Cardoza cast Frank in a starring role in his low budget movie, "The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961)." This movie was filmed silent, had dubbed-in sound effects, voiced-over narration, and killed off Frank's movie career once and for all (and Frank was only paid $300).However, Frank had somewhat of a TV career in the 1960s, appearing on "You Bet Your Life" with Groucho Marx, several episodes of "The Red Skelton Show," and even a number of TV commercials. Costars spoke fondly of Frank, remembering, "Frank had such warmth! He was so cooperative -- just a lovely man. As you know, he was a former wrestler ... he would go and have drinks with his opponents after a wrestling match."And, he lived large. Friends spoke of his gracious wife, Greta, who made great Swedish dinners, along with desserts consisting of her homemade ice cream with strawberries, bananas, coconuts and whipped cream. Little wonder that his son, Karl, grew up to be big and strong, and became a lieutenant with the San Fernando police. And, some friends would chuckle as they recalled that, as big as he was, Frank drove a midget foreign car which was "not much bigger than he was."

My Interests

"On the way out of the building, Hip saw Gypsy Pearl coming in with a trick -- the same one she'd been with in the Howard Bar. He didn't acknowledge them, but went past them on his way to Mann's Manor to wait. The other two junkies walked toward Court Street...

Music:

"Tal and Irene were still in animated conversation, Hip noted; he brought soda and took it up into the gallery. He made a bet with himself that before another week had passed, Irene would be turning tricks for Tal.

Movies:

"His mind turned to Cowboy. It really irked him to let Cowboy get away with burning him, but Tal had sounded a true note of caution -- as had Sue -- by reminding him that he was almost at Cowboy's mercy, because of the robbery Thursday night; or Red Shirt's mercy; for that matter, anyone's mercy who had a grudge against him. But mostly Cowboy's, because he'd been there and could be a witness against him. The others could only cause him the discomfort of an arrest by means of hearsay. He didn't want to provoke Cowboy to the point of putting the man on him, but if he pursued the incident started at Sue's, Cowboy would have no qualms.

Television:

"He'd been lucky enough to escape going to jail so far, and was mildly curious as to what it was like. Many of the Streeters talked about it, and, to hear them, one wouldn't think it was so bad; however, he wasn't anxious to find out firsthand.

Books:

"He watched Tal and Irene. Tal seemed to have her under a spell now. Hip knew that he was a real talker, able to put his words in the most beautiful light and paint pictures that Irene's flimsy willpower could in no way stand up to. If she listened long enough, Tal would have her eating out of his hand.

Heroes:

"There had to be a way of getting even with Cowboy without endangering his own freedom. Maybe he could set Cowboy up for a bust instead of the other way around. ...But he couldn't do that; he hated stoolies too much to be one himself."