Mark Frost (born November 25, 1953) is an American novelist, screenwriter, film and television producer and director. He is the co-creator of the mystery-horror television series Twin Peaks (1990–1991, 2017) and was a writer and executive story editor of Hill Street Blues (1982–1985). He also directed the 1992 film Storyville. He has also published novels beginning with The List of Seven (1993) as well as several non-fiction works, including The Greatest Game Ever Played (2002), which was adapted as a 2005 film.
Early life
Mark Frost was born on November 25, 1953 in
Brooklyn, New York City,
to Mary Virginia Calhoun and actor
Warren Frost. He is the elder brother of actress
Lindsay Frost and writer and photographer Scott Frost.
During his childhood, Frost was raised in
Los Angeles,
California and spent his adolescence in
Minneapolis,
Minnesota, where he attended Marshall-University High School.
As a high-school student, he spent two years on an internship program studying and working at Minneapolis'
Guthrie Theater.
Frost subsequently enrolled in Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, studying acting, directing and playwriting.
Career
Frost was a writer for the
NBC television series
Hill Street Blues. He co-created the ABC television series
Twin Peaks with
David Lynch. The show developed from the initial setup of Lynch having been hired by Warner Bros. to develop a film based on the life of
Marilyn Monroe that saw Lynch and Frost write a screenplay. While it didn't lead anywhere, they became good friends and it was Lynch who eventually got an "idea of a small-town thing", before Frost expressed interest in doing "a sort of Dickensian story about multiple lives in a contained area that could sort of go perpetually." First pitched during the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike, the show eventually premiered in 1990. They maintained control of the show for the first season but each had varying control over the second season, in which both later expressed regret
at resolving the murder. The show first ended on June 10, 1991; Frost was not involved with the prequel film
(1992).
They then developed
On the Air, which aired from June 20 to July 4, 1992. He co-wrote and directed the film
Storyville, co-wrote
Fantastic Four (2005) and wrote
The Greatest Game Ever Played, based on his 2002 book of the same name.
He has written several books on golf, including The Match: The Day the Game of Golf Changed Forever, about a 1956 match pitting pros Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson against amateurs Harvie Ward and Ken Venturi, and The Grand Slam, about the 1930 golf season of Bobby Jones. His fictional works include The List of Seven, The Six Messiahs, and The Second Objective.
Frost returned to co-write the third season of Twin Peaks alongside Lynch that aired in 2017.
Personal life
Frost has lived in Ojai,
California, since 2011 with his wife Lynn and their son, Travis.
His nephew is Major League Baseball player Lucas Giolito.
Bibliography
Fiction
-
The List of Seven (1993)
-
The Six Messiahs (1995)
-
Before I Wake (1997)
-
The Second Objective (2009)
-
The Paladin Prophecy (2012)
-
The Paladin Prophecy 2: Alliance (2013)
-
The Paladin Prophecy 3: Rogue (2015)
-
The Secret History of Twin Peaks (2016)
-
(2017)
Non-fiction
-
The Greatest Game Ever Played: A True Story (2002)
-
The Grand Slam: Bobby Jones, America, and the Story of Golf (2006)
-
The Match: The Day the Game of Golf Changed Forever (2007)
-
Game Six: Cincinnati, Boston, and the 1975 World Series (2009)
Filmography
Film
|
| Scared Stiff | Co-writer | |
| No Man's Land | Writer | Uncredited |
|
|
| Storyville | Director and co-writer | |
| Once Upon a Time | Executive producer | Documentary film |
|
| The Greatest Game Ever Played | Writer and producer | Adaptation of Frost's book of the same name |
|
Television
|
| Sunshine | Writer | |
| The Six Million Dollar Man | Writer | 2 episodes |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Buddy Faro | Creator, writer and executive producer | 11 episodes (as writer) |
|
|
|
|
Accolades
- Bram Stoker Awards
- Deauville American Film Festival
- Golden Globe Awards
- Primetime Emmy Awards
|
|
| Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (for "Pilot") | | |
|
- The Stinkers Bad Movie Awards
- Writers Guild of America Awards
|
| Episodic Drama (for "Death by Kiki") | |
| Episodic Drama (for "Parting Is Such Sweep Sorrow") | |
Notes
External links
