Franklin J Schaffner

Born: May 5 1920
Where: Tokyo, Japan
Died: July 2 1989

The Oscar-winning director is probably best known for directing the sci-fi classic Planet of the Apes (although he won his Academy Award for Patton).

One of the leading directors of the "Golden Age"" of live TV, he later proved himself a capable handler of both epic action features and intimate dramas.

Schaffner began his career as an assistant on The March of Time documentary series and directed over 150 TV plays.

These included the original broadcasts of Twelve Angry Men and The Caine Mutiny Court Martial.

He enjoyed success with his 1960 Broadway production of Advise and Consent and made his first feature film, The Stripper, in 1963.

Subsequent movies included The Best Man and The Double Man before he achived success with Planet of the Apes, starring Charlton Heston, in 1968.

Tim Burton would later "re-imagine" the saga of humans ruled by apes in the inferior remake in 2001.

Schaffner followed this with Patton, the gritty biopic of the controversial American World War II general played by George C Scott. It won seven Oscars.

Dustin Hoffman delivered one of his best performances alongside Steve McQueen in the prison island drama Papillon in 1973.

Five years later Gregory Peck played Nazi war criminal Dr Josef Menegele in the sci-fi drama The Boys from Brazil.

Subsequent movies included the forgetabble Sphinx and the Vietnam war drama Welcome Home.