To Be Frank

Known to so many, and yet unknowable, was Frank Thring. Actor, bon vivant, professional flamboyant, withering critic. No one else could tell his story, so here it is, as if by his own hand. His boyhood as the son of a doomed movie mogul and a society charity matriarch, both former showies. His times in radio, theatre, Hollywood, TV and print. As immortal Australian iconoclast.

At the end of his life, beset by the maladies he knows will soon claim him, Frank tells all. Of moviemaking, branded 'hatcheries of disasters.' Of Dennis Hopper, Mick Jagger, Charlton Heston, Sophia Loren, Kirk Douglas, Janet Leigh, Julie London, Tony Curtis, Jack Hawkins, James Mason, and Australia's best. Of sharing the stage with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. Of this times with Noel Coward, John Geilgud, Orson Wells, Gore Vidal, Fellini, Edward Woodward, Chips Rafferty, Frankie Howerd. Of his three decades on Australian television, as critic, sidekick, guest and star. Of longer still at the Melbourne Theatre Company.

And of the Frank deep beneath the loud, large one he confected. This tale the most intriguing of all.

MJ Cornwall is a former cartoonist, a persevering musician, writer, songwriter, a jack of all arts. Australian by birth, of distant Irish heritage, convicts and other. Born in Brisbane, grew up in Benalla, Mytrleford, Swan Hill, Mt Gambier and Adelaide. Six beloved sisters. Recovering Catholic. Looks upon what has been done to his long term home of Sydney over recent decades and weeps. Makes a living as a teacher. Uses the proceeds to fund researching and writing books. To Be Frank is his first.