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Another titan of the golden age of Hollywood has passed away. Writer, producer, and film executive Frances Doel, longtime associate of producing giant Roger Corman, passed away at the age of 83 this week after a long illness, as reported by her family.
Born on April 15, 1942 in London to Iris Doel and Sgt. Francis Doel of the Royal Armoured Corps, Doel attended St. Hilda’s College at Oxford University, and joined the rank of producer extraordinaire Roger Corman’s company of associates when she spotted an ad for an assistant on her school’s job board. Moving to Los Angeles with nothing but a dream, Doel worked for Corman’s company New World Pictures from the 1960s all the way through the 1980s, becoming his right-hand man, as well as writing and developing scripts, coordinating productions, and serving as a script supervisor.
Officially credit as a writer for Big Bad Mama and Crazy Mama, Frances Doel also ghost-wrote many a first draft for iconic Corman-produced films, and worked with Hollywood idols like Warren Beaty, Jack Nicholson, William Shatner, Shelley Winters, James Cameron, Gale Anne Hurd, Francis Ford Coppola, Jonathan Demme, Martin Scorsese, and more. She’s credited with getting sci-fi classic The Terminator off the ground, as well as overseeing cult classics like Robocop and Desperately Seeking Susan, and co-producing Starship Troopers. She also worked as a development executive at Disney under Jeffrey Katzenberg to produce numerous films from the era.
Doel is survived by her younger siblings, Rosemary Tannock, Diana Clayden and Roger Clayden and their families, by longtime companion Harrison Reiner, and by her friends Pam Abraham, Jon Davison, Robert L. Goodman, Gale Anne Hurd, Guy Prevost, Anne Dyer Rodman, Adam Rodman, Stephanie Rothman, and Jeffrey Sturges. Her family notes that those who’d like to honor Doel’s legacy can make a donation in her memory at Best Friends Animal Society.
We at FANGORIA send our deepest condolences to Doel’s friends and family.
