Benjamin Franklin (miniseries)

The Lives of Benjamin Franklin
Genre	Biography Drama History
Written by	Howard Fast Loring Mandel
Directed by	Glenn Jordan
Starring	Willie Aames Eddie Albert Beau Bridges Melvyn Douglas Richard Widmark
Theme music composer	Billy Goldenberg
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	4
Production
Executive producer
Producers	Glenn Jordan George Lefferts
Running time	360 minutes
Release
Original network	CBS
Picture format	Color
Audio format	Mono
Original release	November 21, 1974 (1974-11-21)

The Lives of Benjamin Franklin is a 1974 American television miniseries that chronicles the life of Benjamin Franklin.

The series was broadcast by CBS and won five Emmy Awards, including the award for Outstanding Limited Series.^[1] Howard Fast won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for the first installment (The Ambassador). Glenn Jordan was also nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for The Ambassador episode, and Loring Mandel was nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for The Whirlwind episode.^[2]

The four 90-minute episodes^[3] debuted on November 21 and December 17, 1974, and January 9 and 28, 1975.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]

Cast[]

Willie Aames as Franklin at age 12
Beau Bridges as Franklin the young man
Eddie Albert as Franklin the diplomat
Richard Widmark as Franklin the rebel
Melvyn Douglas as Franklin the elder statesman

References[]

^ Scott, Vernon (20 May 1975). Mary's show most popular, Desert Sun, p. A-2 (UPI content)
^ Emmys.com listings, emmys.com, Retrieved 14 September 2020
^ (1 September 1974). Specials for the season, San Bernardino Sun
^ O'Connor, John J. (21 November 1974). TV: Sly, Amusing Benjamin Franklin, The New York Times, p. 95.
^ O'Connor, John J. (17 December 1974). TV: CBS Dramas on Ben Franklin Going Smoothly, The New York Times, p, 75.
^ O'Connor, John J. (28 January 1975). TV: Enlightening Study of Franklin Ends Tonight, The New York Times, p. 67.
^ Gardella, Kay (21 November 1974). Ben Franklin Star of Bicentennial Series, New York Daily News, p. 59.
^ *31 July 1974). Get a Line on the Real Ben, Indianapolis News (details of upcoming series; incorrectly reports that Franklin had 13 illegitimate children, a common false tale)

External links[]

The Lives of Benjamin Franklin at IMDb
Charles Lisanby on designing the sets for the miniseries Benjamin Franklin (video), televisionacademy.com

v t Benjamin Franklin
President of Pennsylvania (1785–1788), Ambassador to France (1779–1785), Second Continental Congress (1775–1776)
Founding of the United States	Join, or Die. (1754 political cartoon) Albany Plan of Union Albany Congress Hutchinson Letters Affair Committee of Secret Correspondence Committee of Five Declaration of Independence Model Treaty Franco-American alliance Treaty of Amity and Commerce Treaty of Alliance Staten Island Peace Conference 1776 Pennsylvania Constitution Libertas Americana Treaty of Paris, 1783 Delegate, 1787 Constitutional Convention Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly Postmaster General Founding Fathers
Inventions, other events	Franklin's electrostatic machine Bifocals Franklin stove Glass armonica Gulf Stream exploration, naming, and chart Lightning rod Kite experiment Pay it forward Associators 111th Infantry Regiment Junto club American Philosophical Society Library Company of Philadelphia Pennsylvania Hospital Academy and College of Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia Contributionship Union Fire Company Early American currency Continental Currency dollar coin Fugio cent United States Postal Service President, Pennsylvania Abolition Society Master, Les Neuf Sœurs Gravesite
Writings	Silence Dogood letters (1722) A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain (1725) The Busy-Body columns (1729) The Pennsylvania Gazette (1729–1790) Early American publishers and printers Poor Richard's Almanack (1732–1758) The Drinker's Dictionary (1737) "Advice to a Friend on Choosing a Mistress" (1745) "The Speech of Polly Baker" (1747) Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, etc. (1751) Experiments and Observations on Electricity (1751) Birch letters (1755) The Way to Wealth (1758) Pennsylvania Chronicle (1767) Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One (1773) Proposed alliance with the Iroquois (1775) A Letter to a Royal Academy (1781) Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America (1784) "The Morals of Chess" (1786) An Address to the Public (1789) A Plan for Improving the Condition of the Free Blacks (1789) The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1771–1790, pub. 1791) Bagatelles and Satires (pub. 1845) Franklin as a journalist
Legacy	Franklin Court Benjamin Franklin House Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology Benjamin Franklin Parkway Benjamin Franklin National Memorial Franklin Institute awards medal Benjamin Franklin Medal Royal Society of Arts medal Depicted in The Apotheosis of Washington Treaty of Paris (1783 painting) Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky (1816 painting) Boston statue Philadelphia statue Washington D.C. statue Jefferson Memorial pediment In popular culture Ben and Me (1953 short) Ben Franklin in Paris (1964 musical play) 1776 (1969 musical 1972 film) Benjamin Franklin (1974 miniseries) A More Perfect Union (1989 film) Liberty! (1997 documentary series) Liberty's Kids (2002 animated series) Benjamin Franklin (2002 documentary series) John Adams (2008 miniseries) Sons of Liberty (2015 miniseries) Refunding Certificate Franklin half dollar One-hundred-dollar bill Franklin silver dollar Washington–Franklin stamps other stamps Cities, counties, schools named for Franklin Franklin College, Yale University Franklin Field Mount Franklin State of Franklin Sons of Ben (Philadelphia Union) Ships named USS Franklin Ben Franklin effect
Related	Age of Enlightenment American Enlightenment The New-England Courant The American Museum magazine American Revolution patriots Syng inkstand
Family	Deborah Read (wife) Sarah Franklin Bache (daughter) Francis Franklin (son) William Franklin (son) Richard Bache Jr. (grandson) Benjamin F. Bache (grandson) Louis F. Bache (grandson) William Franklin (grandson) Andrew Harwood (great-grandson) Alexander Bache (great-grandson) Josiah Franklin (father) Jane Mecom (sister) James Franklin (brother) Mary Morrell Folger (grandmother) Peter Folger (grandfather) Richard Bache (son-in-law) Ann Smith Franklin (sister-in-law)
Category Commons

v t Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series
1970s	1973: Tom Brown's Schooldays 1974: Columbo (S3) 1975: Benjamin Franklin 1976: Upstairs, Downstairs (S4) 1977: Roots 1978: Holocaust 1979: Roots: The Next Generations
1980s	1980: Edward & Mrs. Simpson 1981: Shōgun 1982: Marco Polo 1983: The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby 1984: Concealed Enemies 1985: The Jewel in the Crown 1986: Peter the Great 1987: A Year in the Life 1988: The Murder of Mary Phagan 1989: War and Remembrance
1990s	1990: Drug Wars: The Camarena Story 1991: Separate but Equal 1992: A Woman Named Jackie 1993: Prime Suspect II 1994: Prime Suspect III 1995: Joseph 1996: Gulliver's Travels 1997: Prime Suspect: Errors of Judgement 1998: From the Earth to the Moon 1999: Hornblower ("The Even Chance" / "The Examination for Lieutenant" / "The Duchess and the Devil" / "The Frogs and the Lobsters")
2000s	2000: The Corner 2001: Anne Frank: The Whole Story 2002: Band of Brothers 2003: Taken 2004: Angels in America 2005: The Lost Prince 2006: Elizabeth I 2007: Broken Trail 2008: John Adams 2009: Little Dorrit
2010s	2010: The Pacific 2011: Downton Abbey (S1) 2012: Game Change (TV Movie) 2013: Behind the Candelabra (TV Movie) 2014: Fargo (S1) 2015: Olive Kitteridge 2016: The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story 2017: Big Little Lies (S1) 2018: The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story 2019: Chernobyl
2020s	2020: Watchmen 2021: The Queen's Gambit

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