Sandy Frank (born Sundel Francous; July 11, 1929) is an American television producer, distributor, and marketer of TV shows to US networks. Early life and career Frank grew up in Mount Kisco, New York. He started his career as a sales executive for Paramount Pictures, subsequently moving on to Guild Films, and NBC television. Later, he was Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales with the television division of the Wrather Corporation, which produced and distributed the Lassie and Lone Ranger TV programs. In 1964, he opened Sandy Frank Program Sales Inc. as his first company. His first distribution successes were You Asked For It and Lassie, for which he had acquired the rights from the Wrather Corp. Sandy Frank Entertainment Among the programs Frank's company produced or distributed were Name That Tune (1984–1985), Face the Music (1980–1981), The New Treasure Hunt (1973–1977), The Bobby Vinton Show (1975–1978), The Bill Cosby Show (1969–1971), The Dating Game (1973–1974), and Lee Mendelson's Superstar Specials. Frank later produced and distributed Name That Tune and Battle of the Planets. Frank was also the leading distributor of travel adventure shows including America, High and Wild, Across the Seven Seas, The Traveler, and American West. The company obtained rights and provided English dubbing for the entire line of Daiei Film monster movies. Due to the constraints of airing in the then-new UHF television "movie of the week" format, however, the English versions are substantially shortened from the Japanese originals. Many of these films have now lapsed to the public domain. These versions are best known for their frequent appearances on Mystery Science Theater 3000, where some of the company's dubs of Japanese films were lampooned, including a song titled "The Sandy Frank Song". In 1972, the cover of Broadcasting read: "Sandy Frank Film Syndication, Inc. sets a new syndication sales record with The Parent Game: 125 markets sold in just 100 days of selling." Battle of the Planets In April 1977, Frank attended the MIP-TV conference in Cannes. It was here Frank first encountered the Japanese animation Science Ninja Team Gatchaman from producer Tatsunoko Production run by the Yoshida brothers. Frank committed to release the series in the United States after he saw the success of Star Wars in May 1977. Battle of the Planets is the title of the American adaptation of this series, created by Frank. He authorized new footage and hired writers to add