Sir David Paradine Frost (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013) was a British television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the
satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme ''
That Was the Week That Was'' in 1962. His success on this show led to work as a host on American television. He became known for his television interviews with senior political figures, among them the
Nixon interviews with US president
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
in 1977 which were adapted into
a stage play and
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...
. Frost interviewed all eight British prime ministers serving between 1964 and 2016 and all seven American presidents in office between 1969 and 2008.
Frost was one of the people behind the launch of
ITV station
TV-am in 1983. He was the inaugural host of the US news magazine programme ''
Inside Edition''. He hosted the Sunday morning interview programme ''
Breakfast with Frost'' for the BBC from 1993 to 2005, and spent two decades as host of ''
Through the Keyhole''. From 2006 to 2012, he hosted the weekly programme ''
Frost Over the World'' on
Al Jazeera English, and the weekly programme ''The Frost Interview'' from 2012. He received the
BAFTA Fellowship from the
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
in 2005 and the
Lifetime Achievement Award at the
Emmy Awards in 2009.
Frost died on 31 August 2013, aged 74, on board the cruise ship , where he had been engaged as a speaker.
His memorial stone was unveiled in
Poets' Corner of
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
in March 2014.
Early life
David Paradine Frost was born in
Tenterden
Tenterden is a town in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. It stands on the edge of the remnant forest the Weald, overlooking the valley of the River Rother. It was a member of the Cinque Ports Confederation. Its riverside today is ...
,
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, on 7 April 1939, the son of a
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...
minister of
Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
descent,
[Jeffries, Stuart (1 September 2013)]
"Obituary: Sir David Frost"
''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
''. London. the Rev. Wilfred John "W. J." Paradine Frost, and his wife, Mona (Aldrich); he had two elder sisters.
["Frost/Nixon"](_blank)
''TimeLine Theatre Company''. Retrieved 8 October 2022. While living in
Gillingham, Kent, he was taught in the Bible class of the Sunday school at his father's church (Byron Road Methodist) by David Gilmore Harvey, and subsequently started training as a Methodist
local preacher
A Methodist local preacher, also known as a licensed preacher, is a layperson who has been accredited by the Methodist Church to lead worship and preach on a frequent basis. With separation from the Church of England by the end of the 18th century ...
, which he did not complete.
["Obituary: Sir David Frost"](_blank)
''BBC News''. 2 September 2013.
Frost attended Barnsole Road Primary School in Gillingham,
St Hugh's School, Woodhall Spa,
Gillingham Grammar School and finally – while residing in
Raunds, Northamptonshire –
Wellingborough Grammar School. Throughout his school years he was an avid
football and
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...
player,
and was offered a contract with
Nottingham Forest F.C. For two years before going to university he was a lay preacher, following his witnessing of an event presided over by Christian evangelist
Billy Graham.
Frost studied at
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of t ...
, from 1958, graduating with a Third in English. He was editor of both the university's student paper, ''
Varsity'', and the literary magazine ''
Granta''. He was also secretary of the
Footlights Drama Society,
which included actors such as
Peter Cook and
John Bird. During this period Frost appeared on television for the first time in an edition of
Anglia Television's ''Town And Gown'', performing several comic characters. "The first time I stepped into a television studio", he once remembered, "it felt like home. It didn't scare me. Talking to the camera seemed the most natural thing in the world."
According to some accounts, Frost was the victim of snobbery from the group with which he associated at Cambridge, which has been confirmed by
Barry Humphries.
Christopher Booker
Christopher John Penrice Booker (7 October 1937 – 3 July 2019) was an English journalist and author. He was a founder and first editor of the satirical magazine '' Private Eye'' in 1961. From 1990 onward he was a columnist for '' The Sunday ...
, while asserting that Frost's one defining characteristic was ambition, commented that he was impossible to dislike. According to satirist
John Wells, Old
Etonian actor
Jonathan Cecil
Jonathan Hugh Gascoyne-Cecil (22 February 1939 – 22 September 2011), known as Jonathan Cecil, was an English theatre, film, and television actor.
Early life
Cecil was born in London, England, the son of Lord David Cecil and the gr ...
congratulated Frost around this time for "that wonderfully silly voice" he used while performing, but then discovered that it was Frost's real voice.
After leaving university, Frost became a trainee at
Associated-Rediffusion. Meanwhile, having already gained an agent, Frost performed in cabaret at the Blue Angel nightclub in
Berkeley Square, London during the evenings.
''That Was the Week That Was''
Frost was chosen by writer and producer
Ned Sherrin to host the satirical programme ''
That Was the Week That Was'', or ''TW3'', after Frost's flatmate John Bird suggested Sherrin should see his act at The Blue Angel. The series, which ran for less than 18 months during 1962–63, was part of the
satire boom in early 1960s Britain and became a popular programme.
The involvement of Frost in ''TW3'' led to an intensification of the rivalry with Peter Cook who accused him of stealing material and dubbed Frost "the bubonic plagiarist".
[Hattenstone, Simon (2 July 2011)]
"The Saturday interview: David Frost"
''The Guardian''. London. The new satirical magazine ''
Private Eye'' also mocked him at this time. Frost visited the U.S. during the break between the two series of ''TW3'' in the summer of 1963 and stayed with the producer of the New York City production of ''Beyond The Fringe''. Frost was unable to swim, but still jumped into the pool, and nearly drowned until he was saved by Peter Cook. At the memorial service for Cook in 1995,
Alan Bennett recalled that rescuing Frost was the one regret Cook frequently expressed.
For the first three editions of the second series in 1963, the BBC attempted to limit the team by scheduling repeats of ''
The Third Man'' television series after the programme, thus preventing overruns. Frost took to reading synopses of the episodes at the end of the programme as a means of sabotage. After the BBC's Director General
Hugh Greene instructed that the repeats should be abandoned, ''TW3'' returned to being open-ended. More sombrely, on 23 November 1963, a tribute to the
assassinated President John F. Kennedy, an event which had occurred the previous day, formed an entire edition of ''That Was the Week That Was''.
An American version of ''TW3'' ran after the original British series had ended. Following a pilot episode on 10 November 1963, the 30-minute US series, also featuring Frost, ran on
NBC from 10 January 1964 to May 1965. In 1985, Frost produced and hosted a television special in the same format, ''That Was the Year That Was'', on NBC.
After ''TW3''
Frost fronted various programmes following the success of ''TW3'', including its immediate successor, ''
Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life'', which he co-chaired with
Willie Rushton and poet
P. J. Kavanagh
P. J. Kavanagh
FRSL (6 January 1931 – 26 August 2015) was an English poet, lecturer, actor, broadcaster and columnist. His father was the ''ITMA'' scriptwriter Ted Kavanagh.
Life
Patrick Joseph Kavanagh worked as a Butlin's Redcoat, th ...
. Screened on three evenings each week, this series was dropped after a sketch was found to be offensive to Catholics and another to the British royal family.
More successful was ''
The Frost Report'', broadcast between 1966 and 1967. The show launched the television careers of
John Cleese,
Ronnie Barker, and
Ronnie Corbett, who appeared together in the
Class sketch.
Frost signed for
Rediffusion, the
ITV weekday contractor in London, to produce a "heavier" interview-based show called ''The Frost Programme''. Guests included
Oswald Mosley and
Rhodesian premier
Ian Smith. His memorable dressing-down of insurance fraudster
Emil Savundra
Michael Marion Emil Anacletus Pierre Savundranayagam (6 July 1923 – 21 December 1976), usually known as Emil Savundra, was a Sri Lankan swindler. The collapse of his Fire, Auto and Marine Insurance Company left about 400,000 motorists in t ...
, regarded as the first example of "
trial by television" in the UK, led to concern from ITV executives that it might affect Savundra's right to a fair trial.
Frost's introductory words for his television programmes during this period, "Hello, good evening and welcome", became his
catchphrase and were often mimicked.
Frost was a member of a successful consortium, including former executives from the BBC, that bid for an ITV franchise in 1967. This became
London Weekend Television, which began broadcasting in July 1968. The station began with a programming policy that was considered "
highbrow" and suffered launch problems with low audience ratings and financial problems. A September 1968 meeting of the Network Programme Committee, which made decisions about the channel's scheduling, was particularly fraught, with
Lew Grade
Lew Grade, Baron Grade, (born Lev Winogradsky; 25 December 1906 – 13 December 1998) was a British media proprietor and impresario. Originally a dancer, and later a talent agent, Grade's interest in television production began in 19 ...
expressing hatred of Frost in his presence.
["British TV History: The ITV Story: Part 10: The New Franchises"](_blank)
, Teletronic Frost, according to
Kitty Muggeridge in 1967, had "risen without a trace."
He was involved in the station's early years as a presenter. On 20 and 21 July 1969, during the
British television Apollo 11 coverage
British television coverage of the Apollo 11 mission, humanity's first to land on the Moon, lasted from 16 to 24 July 1969. All three UK television channels, BBC1, BBC2 and ITV, provided extensive coverage. Most of the footage covering the event ...
, he presented ''David Frost's Moon Party'' for LWT, a ten-hour discussion and entertainment marathon from LWT's
Wembley Studios
Fountain Studios was an independently owned television studio in Wembley Park, northwest London. The company was last part of the Avesco Group plc.
Several companies owned the site before it was bought by Fountain in 1993. Originally a film st ...
, on the night
Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. Two of his guests on this programme were British historian
A. J. P. Taylor and entertainer
Sammy Davis, Jr. Around this time Frost interviewed
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...
whose recently acquired Sunday newspaper, the ''
News of the World'', had just serialised the memoirs of
Christine Keeler
Christine Margaret Keeler (22 February 1942 – 4 December 2017) was an English model and showgirl. Her meeting at a dance club with society osteopath Stephen Ward drew her into fashionable circles. At the height of the Cold War, she became s ...
, a central figure in the
Profumo scandal of 1963. For the Australian publisher, this was a bruising encounter, although Frost said that he had not intended it to be. Murdoch confessed to his biographer
Michael Wolff that the incident had convinced him that Frost was "an arrogant bastard,
nda bloody bugger".
In the late 1960s Frost began an intermittent involvement in the film industry. Setting up
David Paradine Ltd in 1966,
[Leapman, Michael (1 September 2013)]
"Sir David Frost: Pioneering journalist and broadcaster whose fame often equalled that of his interviewees"
''The Independent'' London. he part-financed ''
The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer'' (1970), in which the lead character was based partly on Frost, and gained an executive producer credit. In 1976, Frost was the executive producer of the British
musical film ''
The Slipper and the Rose'', retelling the story of
Cinderella.
Frost was the subject of ''
This Is Your Life This Is Your Life may refer to:
Television
* ''This Is Your Life'' (American franchise), an American radio and television documentary biography series hosted by Ralph Edwards
* ''This Is Your Life'' (Australian TV series), the Australian versio ...
'' in January 1972 when he was surprised by
Eamonn Andrews
Eamonn Andrews, (19 December 1922 – 5 November 1987) was an Irish radio and television presenter, employed primarily in the United Kingdom from the 1950s to the 1980s. From 1960 to 1964 he chaired the Radio Éireann Authority (now the RTÉ A ...
at London's
Quaglino's restaurant.
American career from 1968 to 1980
In 1968, he signed a contract worth £125,000 to appear on American television in his own show on three evenings each week, the largest such arrangement for a British television personality
at the time. From 1969 to 1972, Frost kept his London shows and fronted ''The David Frost Show'' on the
Group W (U.S. Westinghouse Corporation) television stations in the U.S. His 1970 TV special, ''Frost on America'', featured guests such as
Jack Benny
Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success playing violin on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century wit ...
and
Tennessee Williams.
In a declassified transcript of a 1972 telephone call between Frost and
Henry Kissinger
Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presid ...
, President Nixon's
national security advisor A national security advisor serves as the chief advisor to a national government on matters of security. The advisor is not usually a member of the government's cabinet but is usually a member of various military or security councils.
National sec ...
and
secretary of state, Frost urged Kissinger to call
chess Grandmaster Bobby Fischer
Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Championships at the age of 14. In 1964, he won with an 11� ...
and urge him to compete in that year's
World Chess Championship.
During this call, Frost revealed that he was working on a novel.
[
Frost interviewed heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali in 1974 at his training camp in ]Deer Lake, Pennsylvania
Deer Lake is a borough in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. The population was 670 at the 2020 census. The mayor of the borough is Larry Kozlowski.
History
The community was founded as a resort community serving coal barons and other members of ...
before " The Rumble in the Jungle" with George Foreman. Ali remarked, "Listen David, when I meet this man, if you think the world was surprised when Nixon resigned, wait till I whip Foreman's behind."
In 1977, the Nixon Interviews, which were five 90-minute interviews with former U.S. President Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
, were broadcast. Nixon was paid $600,000 plus a share of the profits for the interviews, which had to be funded by Frost himself after the U.S. television networks turned down the programme, describing it as " checkbook journalism". Frost's company negotiated its own deals to syndicate the interviews with local stations across the U.S. and internationally, creating what Ron Howard
Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He first came to prominence as a child actor, guest-starring in several television series, including an episode of '' The Twilight Zone''. ...
described as "the first fourth network". Frost taped around 29 hours of interviews with Nixon over four weeks. Nixon, who had previously avoided discussing his role in the Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's contin ...
that had led to his resignation as president in 1974, expressed contrition saying, "I let the American people down and I have to carry that burden with me for the rest of my life". Frost asked Nixon whether the president could do something illegal in certain situations such as against antiwar groups and others if he decides "it's in the best interests of the nation or something". Nixon replied: "Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal", by definition.
Following the 1979 Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dyna ...
, Frost was the last person to interview Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the deposed Shah
Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...
of Iran. The interview took place on Contadora Island in Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...
in January 1980, and was broadcast by the American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Calif ...
in the U.S. on 17 January. The Shah talks about his wealth, his illness, the SAVAK, the torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts ...
during his reign, Khomeini, his threat of extradition to Iran and draws a summary of the current situation in Iran.
Frost was an organiser of the Music for UNICEF Concert at the United Nations General Assembly
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...
in 1979. Ten years later, he was hired as the anchor of new American tabloid news program '' Inside Edition''. He was dismissed after only three weeks because of poor ratings. It seems he was "considered too high-brow for the show's low-brow format."
After 1980
Frost was one of the "Famous Five" who launched TV-am in February 1983; however, like LWT in the late 1960s, the station began with an unsustainable "highbrow" approach. Frost remained a presenter after restructuring. ''Frost on Sunday'' began in September 1983 and continued until the station lost its franchise at the end of 1992. Frost had been part of an unsuccessful consortium, CPV-TV
CPV-TV (from Chrysalis, Paradine and Virgin) was a company which had bid for three ITV franchises at the 1991 ITV franchise auction.
It was a consortium led by Sir David Frost and Richard Branson with further backing from the Chrysalis Group ...
, with Richard Branson and other interests, which had attempted to acquire three ITV contractor franchises prior to the changes made by the Independent Television Commission in 1991. After transferring from ITV, his Sunday morning interview programme '' Breakfast with Frost'' ran on the BBC from January 1993 until 29 May 2005. For a time it ran on BSB before moving to BBC 1.
Frost hosted '' Through the Keyhole'', which ran on several UK channels from 1987 until 2008 and also featured Loyd Grossman. Produced by his own production company, the programme was first shown in prime time and on daytime television in its later years.
Frost worked for Al Jazeera English, presenting a live weekly hour-long current affairs programme, '' Frost Over The World'', which started when the network launched in November 2006. The programme regularly made headlines with interviewees such as Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of t ...
, President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan and President Daniel Ortega
José Daniel Ortega Saavedra (; born 11 November 1945) is a Nicaraguan revolutionary and politician serving as President of Nicaragua since 2007. Previously he was leader of Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, first as coordinator of the Junta of Na ...
of Nicaragua. The programme was produced by the former '' Question Time'' editor and ''Independent on Sunday
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...
'' journalist Charlie Courtauld. Frost was one of the first to interview the man who authored the Fatwa on Terrorism
The ''Fatwa on Terrorism and Suicide Bombings'' is a 600-page (Urdu version), 512-page (English version) Islamic decree by scholar Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri which demonstrates from the Quran and Sunnah that terrorism and suicide bombings are unjust ...
, Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri.
During his career as a broadcaster, Frost became one of Concorde
The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC).
Studies started in 1954, and France an ...
's most frequent fliers, having flown between London and New York an average of 20 times per year for 20 years.
In 2007, Frost hosted a discussion with Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi as part of the Monitor Group's involvement in the country. In June 2010, Frost presented ''Frost on Satire'', an hour-long BBC Four documentary looking at the history of television satire.
Achievements
Frost was the only person to have interviewed all eight British prime ministers
The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the principal minister of the crown of His Majesty's Government, and the head of the British Cabinet. There is no specific date for when the office of prime minister first appeared, as the role was no ...
serving between 1964 and 2016 (Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...
, Edward Heath, James Callaghan
Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, ( ; 27 March 191226 March 2005), commonly known as Jim Callaghan, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980. Callaghan is ...
, Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
, John Major, Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of t ...
, Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony ...
, and David Cameron) and all seven U.S. presidents in office between 1969 and 2008 (Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...
, and George W. Bush).
He was a patron and former vice-president of the Motor Neurone Disease Association charity, as well as being a patron of the Alzheimer's Research Trust
Alzheimer's Research UK (ARUK) is a dementia research charity in the United Kingdom, founded in 1992 as the Alzheimer's Research Trust.
ARUK funds scientific studies to find ways to treat, cure or prevent all forms of dementia, including Alzhei ...
, Hearing Star Benevolent Fund, East Anglia's Children's Hospices, the Home Farm Trust and the Elton John AIDS Foundation. He was also recognised for his contributions to the women's charity "Wellbeing for Women".
After having been in television for 40 years, Frost was estimated to be worth £200 million by the ''Sunday Times Rich List
The ''Sunday Times Rich List'' is a list of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families resident in the United Kingdom ranked by net wealth. The list is updated annually in April and published as a magazine supplement by British national Sunday new ...
'' in 2006, a figure he considered a significant overestimate in 2011. The valuation included the assets of his main British company and subsidiaries, plus homes in London and the country.
''Frost/Nixon''
''Frost/Nixon'' was originally a play written by Peter Morgan, developed from the interviews that Frost had conducted with Richard Nixon in 1977. '' Frost/Nixon'' was presented as a stage production in London in 2006 and on Broadway in 2007. Frank Langella
Frank A. Langella Jr. (; born January 1, 1938) is an American stage and film actor. He has won four Tony Awards: two for Best Leading Actor in a Play for his performance as Richard Nixon in Peter Morgan's '' Frost/Nixon'' and as André in Flor ...
won a Leading Actor Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...
for his portrayal of Nixon; the play also received nominations for Best Play and Best Direction.
The play was adapted into a Hollywood motion picture entitled '' Frost/Nixon'' and starring Michael Sheen as Frost and Langella as Nixon, both reprising their stage roles. The film was released in 2008 and directed by Ron Howard
Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He first came to prominence as a child actor, guest-starring in several television series, including an episode of '' The Twilight Zone''. ...
. It was nominated for five Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of ...
s, winning none: Best Motion Picture-Drama, Best Director-Drama, Best Actor-Drama (Langella), Best Screenplay, and Best Original Score. It was also nominated for five Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
s, again winning none: Best Picture, Best Actor (Langella), Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing.
In February 2009, Frost was featured on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-owne ...
's international affairs programme ''Foreign Correspondent
A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locat ...
'' in a report titled "The World According To Frost", reflecting on his long career and portrayal in the film ''Frost/Nixon''.
Personal life
Frost was known for several relationships with high-profile women. In the mid-1960s, he dated British actress Janette Scott, between her marriages to songwriter Jackie Rae
John Arthur Rae, CM, DFC (May 14, 1921 – October 5, 2006) was a Canadian singer, songwriter and television performer.
Biography
He was born John Arthur Cohen to immigrants in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1921. His father Goodman Cohen was Lithu ...
and singer Mel Tormé; in the early 1970s he was engaged to American actress Diahann Carroll; between 1972 and 1977 he had a relationship with British socialite Caroline Cushing; in 1981, he married Lynne Frederick, widow of Peter Sellers, but they divorced the following year. He also had an 18-year intermittent affair with American actress Carol Lynley
Carol Lynley (born Carole Ann Jones; February 13, 1942 – September 3, 2019) was an American actress known for her roles in the films ''Blue Denim'' (1959) and '' The Poseidon Adventure'' (1972).
Lynley was born in Manhattan to an Irish ...
.
On 19 March 1983, Frost married Lady Carina Fitzalan-Howard, daughter of the 17th Duke of Norfolk. Three sons were born to the couple over the next five years. His second son, Wilfred Frost
Wilfred Frost (born 7 August 1985) is a contributor for Sky News, NBC and CNBC.
Early life and education
Frost is the son of Sir David Frost, an interviewer and television host, and Lady Carina Fitzalan-Howard, a daughter of the 17th Duke of Nor ...
, followed in his father's footsteps and currently works as an anchor at Sky News and CNBC
CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk s ...
. They lived for many years in Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an affluent area in west London, England, due south-west of Charing Cross by approximately 2.5 miles. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the south-western postal area.
Chelsea histori ...
, and kept a weekend home at Michelmersh Court in Hampshire.
Death
On 31 August 2013, Frost was aboard the Cunard
Cunard () is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its three ships have been registered in Hamilton, Ber ...
cruise ship when he died of a heart attack at the age of 74.[Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...]
.
. Frost's son Miles died from the same condition at the age of 31 in 2015.
A funeral service was held at Holy Trinity Church in
, on 12 September 2013, after which he was interred in the church's graveyard.
On 13 March 2014, a memorial service was held at
.
paid tribute, saying: "He could be—and certainly was with me—both a friend and a fearsome interviewer."
. He could put his hand to anything. He could turn over Richard Nixon or he could win the comedy prize at the
; Non-fiction
* ''How to Live Under Labour – or at Least Have as Much Chance as Anyone Else'' (1964)
* ''To England with Love'' (1968). With
.
* ''The Presidential Debate, 1968: David Frost talks with Vice-President Hubert H. Humphrey (and others)'' (1968).
* ''The Americans'' (1970)
* ''Billy Graham Talks with David Frost'' (1972)
* ''Whitlam and Frost: The Full Text of Their TV Conversations Plus Exclusive New Interviews'' (1974)
* ''"I Gave Them a Sword": Behind the Scenes of the Nixon Interviews'' (1978). Reissued as ''Frost/Nixon'' in 2007.
* ''David Frost's Book of Millionaires, Multimillionaires, and Really Rich People'' (1984)
* ''The World's Shortest Books'' (1987)
* ''An Autobiography. Part 1: From Congregations to Audiences'' (1993)
; With
* ''I Could Have Kicked Myself: David Frost's Book of the World's Worst Decisions'' (1982)
* ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (1983)
* ''If You'll Believe That'' (1986)
; With
* ''The Mid-Atlantic Companion, or, How to Misunderstand Americans as Much as They Misunderstand Us'' (1986)
* ''The Rich Tide: Men, Women, Ideas and Their Transatlantic Impact'' (1986)