Frances Doel, neé Frances Margaret Doel, writer-producer-executive known for her work with indie film legend Roger Corman, died May 26 after a long illness. She was 83.
Doel first connected with Corman when she saw a posting for an assistant on a jobs board at Oxford University, where she was a graduating scholarship student of St. Hilda’s College.
She moved to Los Angeles, taking up residence at the Women’s Y in Hollywood and working for Corman’s New World Pictures throughout its heyday, which spanned the 1960s, ’70s and early ’80s. Doel was Corman’s right-hand, writing scripts, developing scripts with other scribes, coordinating projects in production and serving as script supervisor on location.
Many Corman-produced films have been thought to have uncredited writing contributions from Doel. She was officially credited for writing on New World’s cult classics, Big Bad Mama (1974) and Crazy Mama (1975). At New World, Doel worked alongside future Hollywood luminaries, Oscar winners, Emmy winners and legends, including Chinatown screenwriter Robert Towne; actors like Warren Beaty, Angie Dickinson, Peter Fonda, Jack Nicholson, William Shatner, and Shelley Winters; producers Jon Davison and Gale Anne Hurd; directors Peter Bogdanovich, James Cameron, Francis Ford Coppola, Jonathan Demme, Martin Scorsese, Joe Dante and Allan Arkush.
From New World Pictures, Doel went on to serve as a creative executive for Orion Pictures under Mike Medavoy for the filming of The Terminator (1984), Robocop (1987), The Falcon and the Snowman (1985) and Desperately Seeking Susan (1985). She was a development executive for Disney during the Katzenberg era when Outrageous Fortune (1987), Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989) and Dead Poets Society (1989) were made.
Doel later joined forces with fellow Corman veteran Jon Davison to co-produce TriStar’s now cult classic, Starship Troopers (1997). In the last decade of her career, Doel returned to working with Corman, serving as his VP of Production at Concorde-New Horizons, where she continued to produce and write on a slate of film and television projects.
In a 2024 YouTube reel, “The Terminator at 40!,” Terminator writer-director James Cameron and its writer-producer Gale Anne Hurd credit Doel for getting the film made at Orion when it could not find a home elsewhere. Doel married and later divorced Broadway, film, and television actor-director Clint Kimbrough.
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 beloved friends Pam Abraham, Jon Davison, Robert L. Goodman, Gale Anne Hurd, Guy Prevost, Anne Dyer Rodman, Adam Rodman, Stephanie Rothman, and Jeffrey Sturges. Those wishing to honor Doel can make a donation to Best Friends Animal Society in her memory at Best Friends Animal Society or by fostering or adopting a rescue shelter animal.
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