Benjamin Franklin (miniseries)

The Lives of Benjamin Franklin is a 1974 American television miniseries that chronicles the life of Benjamin Franklin.

Benjamin Franklin
Also known as	The Lives of Benjamin Franklin
Genre	Biography Drama History
Written by	Loring Mandel Howard Fast Loring Mandel
Directed by	Glenn Jordan
Starring	Willie Aames Eddie Albert Beau Bridges>br>Lloyd Bridges Melvyn Douglas Richard Widmark
Theme music composer	Billy Goldenberg
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	4
Production
Executive producer	Lewis Freedman
Producers	Glenn Jordan George Lefferts
Running time	360 minutes
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	November 21, 1974 (1974-11-21) – January 28, 1975 (1975-01-28)

The series was broadcast by CBS and won five Emmy Awards, including the award for Outstanding Limited Series.^[1] Howard Fast won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for the first installment (The Ambassador). Glenn Jordan was also nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for The Ambassador episode, and Loring Mandel was nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for the episode "The Whirlwind".^[2]

The four 90-minute episodes^[3] debuted on November 21 and December 17, 1974, and January 9 and 28, 1975.^{[4][5][6][7][8]}

Cast

• Willie Aames as Franklin at age 12
• Beau Bridges as Franklin the young man
• Richard Widmark as Franklin the rebel
• Eddie Albert as Franklin at age 72
• Lloyd Bridges as Franklin the diplomat
• Melvyn Douglas as Franklin the elder statesman
• Susan Sarandon as younger Deborah Franklin
• Sheree North as older Deborah Franklin

See also

• List of films about the American Revolution
• List of television series and miniseries about the American Revolution
• Benjamin Franklin, 2002 TV series
• Benjamin Franklin, 2022 documentary film
• Franklin, 2024 miniseries