Frank De Felitta was a writer, producer and director best known for penning the best-selling novel Audrey Rose, and the screenplay for the 1977 film adapted from the book. Starring Anthony Hopkins and Marsha Mason, the fantasy horror film told the story of a stranger who attempts to convince a couple that their daughter is his daughter reincarnated. The film, which De Felitta also co-produced, was directed by Robert Wise.
Additionally, De Felitta wrote the novel and adapted screenplay for the 1982 horror film The Entity, starring Barbara Hershey; as well as the screenplay for the 1991 horror-thriller Scissors, starring Sharon Stone. He also wrote the films Anzio, starring Robert Mitchum and Peter Falk; Z.P.G., with Oliver Reed and Geraldine Chaplin; and The Savage Is Loose, directed by and starring George C. Scott.
De Felitta got his start in television before breaking into movies. His TV credits included episodes of the series Tales of Tomorrow, The Plymouth Playhouse, Medallion Theatre, Armstrong Circle Theatre, Suspense, Danger and Windows. He also penned the made-for-television movies Witchcraft, The Stately Ghosts of England, Trapped, The Two Worlds of Jennie Logan and The Penthouse.
In 1963, he was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category of outstanding achievement in the field of documentary programming, for The DuPont Show of the Week. He shared the nomination with producer Irving Gitlin, for the episode "Emergency Ward."
De Felitta also directed the television movies Dark Night of the Scarecrow and Killer in the Mirror, as well as the NBC documentary Mississippi: A Self Portrait, about Booker Wright, a black waiter in a whites-only restaurant. In addition, he was an executive producer on the adventure series Assignment: Underwater.
Prior to his career in entertainment, De Felitta served as a pilot during World War II, then wrote for the radio series The Whistler, before making the transition to television anthology shows in the early 1950s.
His son, writer-director Raymond De Felitta, helmed the 2009 film City Island and the ABC telefilm Madoff.
De Felitta died March 29, 2016, in Los Angeles. He was 94.
