David Frost

2022-07-01T15:12:25Z

81.90.173.150: /* Personal life */

{{short description|British television host, media personality, journalist, comedian, and writer (1939–2013)}}
{{Other people}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = [[Sir]]
| name = David Frost
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE}}
| image = David Frost Rumsfeld interview cropped.jpg
| imagesize =
| caption = Frost during an interview with [[Donald Rumsfeld]] in 2005
| birth_name = David Paradine Frost
| birth_date = {{birth date|1939|4|7|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Tenterden]], [[Kent]], England
| death_date = {{death date and age|2013|8|31|1939|4|7|df=yes}}
| death_place = {{ship|MS|Queen Elizabeth}}, [[Mediterranean Sea]]
| resting_place = Holy Trinity Churchyard, [[Nuffield, Oxfordshire|Nuffield]], [[Oxfordshire]], England
| known_for = {{Flatlist|
* ''[[That Was the Week That Was]]''
* ''[[Through the Keyhole]]''
* ''[[Breakfast with Frost]]''
* ''Frost on Sunday''
* [[TV-AM]]
* ''[[The Nixon Interviews]]''
}}
| occupation = {{Flatlist|
* Television presenter
* journalist
* comedian
* writer
}}
| education = [[Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge]]
| years_active = 1962–2013
| spouse = {{Plainlist|
* {{marriage|[[Lynne Frederick]]|1981|1982|end=div}}
* {{marriage|Lady Carina Fitzalan-Howard|1983}}
}}
| partner = [[Diahann Carroll]] <br>(1970–1973)
| children = 3; including [[Wilfred Frost|Wilfred]]
}}

'''Sir David Paradine Frost''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|OBE}} (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013) was a British television host, [[journalist]], comedian and writer.

He rose to prominence during the [[satire boom]] in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme ''[[That Was the Week That Was]]'' in 1962. His success on this show led to work as a host on American television. He became known for his television interviews with senior political figures, among them the [[Nixon interviews]] with President [[Richard Nixon]] in 1977 which were adapted into a [[Frost/Nixon (play)|stage play]] and [[Frost/Nixon (film)|film]]. Frost interviewed all eight British prime ministers serving between 1964 and 2016 and all seven American presidents in office between 1969 and 2008.<ref name="Jeffries"/>

He was one of the people behind the launch of [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] station [[TV-am]] in 1983. He was the inaugural host of the US [[News magazine|newsmagazine]] programme ''[[Inside Edition]]''.<ref>{{Citation|title=Watch Inside Edition's Very First Episode From 1989|date=2019-01-07|url=https://www.insideedition.com/media/videos/watch-inside-editions-very-first-episode-1989-49759|language=en-US|access-date=2020-11-25}}</ref> He hosted the Sunday morning interview programme ''[[Breakfast with Frost]]'' for the BBC from 1993 to 2005, and spent two decades as host of ''[[Through the Keyhole]]''. From 2006 to 2012, he hosted the weekly programme ''[[Frost Over the World]]'' on [[Al Jazeera English]], and the weekly programme ''The Frost Interview'' from 2012. He received the [[BAFTA Fellowship]] from the [[British Academy of Film and Television Arts]] in 2005 and the [[Lifetime Achievement Emmys|Lifetime Achievement Award]] at the [[Emmy Awards]] in 2009.

Frost died on 31 August 2013, aged 74, on board the cruise ship {{ship|MS|Queen Elizabeth}}, where he had been engaged as a speaker.<ref name="bbc_obit">{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23920336 |title=Sir David Frost, broadcaster and writer, dies at 74 |work=[[BBC News]] |date=1 September 2013 |access-date=1 September 2013}}</ref> His memorial stone was unveiled in [[Poets' Corner]] of [[Westminster Abbey]] in March 2014.<ref>{{cite news |title=Sir David Frost's memorial at Westminster's Poets' Corner |work=BBC News |date=13 March 2014 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-26560669 |access-date=30 January 2015}}</ref>

==Early life==
David Paradine Frost was born in [[Tenterden]], [[Kent]], on 7 April 1939, the son of a [[Methodist]] minister of [[Huguenot]] descent,<ref name="Jeffries">Stuart Jeffries [https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/sep/01/sir-david-frost Obituary: Sir David Frost], ''The Guardian'', 1 September 2013</ref> the Rev. Wilfred John "W. J." Paradine Frost, and his wife, Mona (Aldrich); he had two elder sisters.<ref name="TimeLine">[http://www.timelinetheatre.com/frost_nixon/FrostNixon_StudyGuide.pdf TimeLine Theatre Company, Chicago: Frost/Nixon Study Guide] Retrieved 2 October 2011.</ref><ref>[http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20130902/NEWS04/309029979/1006/NEWS Frost, famous for Nixon interview, dies | The Journal Gazette]</ref> While living in [[Gillingham, Medway|Gillingham]], Kent, he was taught in the Bible class of the Sunday school at his father's church (Byron Road Methodist) by David Gilmore Harvey, and subsequently started training as a Methodist [[local preacher]], which he did not complete.<ref name="bbc_obituary2">[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13528279 Obituary: Sir David Frost], BBC News, 2 September 2013.</ref>

Frost attended Barnsole Road Primary School in Gillingham, [[St Hugh's School, Woodhall Spa]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Martineau |first1=Hugh |title=Half a Century of St Hugh's School, Woodhall Spa |date=1975 |publisher=Cupit and Hindley |location=Horncastle, Lincolnshire |page=12}}</ref> [[Robert Napier School|Gillingham Grammar School]] and finally – while residing in [[Raunds|Raunds, Northamptonshire]] – [[Wrenn School|Wellingborough Grammar School]]. Throughout his school years he was an avid [[association football|football]] and [[cricket]] player,<ref name="TimeLine" /> and was offered a contract with [[Nottingham Forest F.C.]]<ref>{{cite news |last=Duff |first=Oliver |title=My Life in Media: Sir David Frost |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/my-life-in-media-sir-david-frost-6146971.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226180652/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/my-life-in-media-sir-david-frost-6146971.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 February 2014 |access-date=11 August 2013 |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |date=2 May 2005}}</ref> For two years before going to university he was a lay preacher, following his witnessing of an event presided over by Christian evangelist [[Billy Graham]].<ref name="Jeffries" />

Frost studied at [[Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge]], from 1958, graduating with a Third in English.<ref>J. Hughes-Onslow, "Sir David Frost", ''[[The Oldie]]'', May 2014, p. 83.</ref> He was editor of both the university's student paper, ''[[Varsity (Cambridge)|Varsity]]'', and the literary magazine ''[[Granta]]''. He was also secretary of the [[Footlights]] Drama Society,<ref name="TimeLine" /> which included actors such as [[Peter Cook]] and [[John Bird (actor)|John Bird]]. During this period Frost appeared on television for the first time in an edition of [[Anglia Television]]'s ''Town And Gown'', performing several comic characters. "The first time I stepped into a television studio", he once remembered, "it felt like home. It didn't scare me. Talking to the camera seemed the most natural thing in the world."<ref name="Telegraphobit">[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10278859/Sir-David-Frost.html Obituary: Sir David Frost], ''The Telegraph'', 1 September 2013</ref>

According to some accounts, Frost was the victim of snobbery from the group with which he associated at Cambridge, which has been confirmed by [[Barry Humphries]].<ref name="Carpenter207">Humphrey Carpenter, ''That Was Satire That Was: The Satire Boom of the 1960s'', London: Victor Gollancz, 2000, p. 207.</ref> [[Christopher Booker]], while asserting that Frost's one defining characteristic was ambition, commented that he was impossible to dislike.<ref>Carpenter, pp. 207-8.</ref> According to satirist [[John Wells (satirist)|John Wells]], Old [[Eton College|Etonian]] actor [[Jonathan Cecil]] congratulated Frost around this time for "that wonderfully silly voice" he used while performing, but then discovered that it was Frost's real voice.<ref name="Carpenter207" />

After leaving university, Frost became a trainee at [[Associated-Rediffusion]]. Meanwhile, having already gained an agent, Frost performed in cabaret at the Blue Angel nightclub in [[Berkeley Square]], London during the evenings.<ref name="Jeffries" /><ref>Carpenter, pp. 208-9.</ref>

==''That Was the Week That Was''==
Frost was chosen by writer and producer [[Ned Sherrin]] to host the satirical programme ''[[That Was the Week That Was]]'', or ''TW3'', after Frost's flatmate John Bird suggested Sherrin should see his act at The Blue Angel. The series, which ran for less than 18 months during 1962–63, was part of the [[satire boom]] in early 1960s Britain and became a popular programme.

The involvement of Frost in ''TW3'' led to an intensification of the rivalry with Peter Cook who accused him of stealing material and dubbed Frost "the bubonic plagiarist".<ref name="Hattenstone">Simon Hattenstone [https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2011/jul/02/david-frost-interview-frost-nixon "The Saturday interview: David Frost"], ''The Guardian'', 2 July 2011</ref> The new satirical magazine ''[[Private Eye]]'' also mocked him at this time. Frost visited the U.S. during the break between the two series of ''TW3'' in the summer of 1963 and stayed with the producer of the New York City production of ''Beyond The Fringe''. Frost was unable to swim, but still jumped into the pool, and nearly drowned until he was saved by Peter Cook. At the memorial service for Cook in 1995, [[Alan Bennett]] recalled that rescuing Frost was the one regret Cook frequently expressed.<ref>Carpenter, ''That Was Satire That Was'', p. 261.</ref>

For the first three editions of the second series in 1963, the BBC attempted to limit the team by scheduling repeats of ''[[The Third Man#Adaptations|The Third Man]]'' television series after the programme, thus preventing overruns. Frost took to reading synopses of the episodes at the end of the programme as a means of sabotage. After the BBC's Director General [[Hugh Greene]] instructed that the repeats should be abandoned, ''TW3'' returned to being open-ended.<ref>Carpenter, ''That Was Satire That Was'', pp. 270-1</ref> More sombrely, on 23 November 1963, a tribute to the [[John F. Kennedy assassination|assassinated President John F. Kennedy]], an event which had occurred the previous day, formed an entire edition of ''That Was the Week That Was''.<ref name="Leapman" />

An American version of ''TW3'' ran after the original British series had ended. Following a pilot episode on 10 November 1963, the 30-minute US series, also featuring Frost, ran on [[NBC]] from 10 January 1964 to May 1965. In 1985, Frost produced and hosted a television special in the same format, ''That Was the Year That Was'', on NBC.

==After ''TW3''==
Frost fronted various programmes following the success of ''TW3'', including its immediate successor, ''[[Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life]]'', which he co-chaired with [[Willie Rushton]] and poet [[P. J. Kavanagh]]. Screened on three evenings each week, this series was dropped after a sketch was found to be offensive to Catholics and another to the British royal family.<ref name="Leapman"/> More successful was ''[[The Frost Report]]'', broadcast between 1966 and 1967. The show launched the television careers of [[John Cleese]], [[Ronnie Barker]], and [[Ronnie Corbett]], who appeared together in the [[Class sketch]].

Frost signed for [[Associated-Rediffusion|Rediffusion]], the [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] weekday contractor in London, to produce a "heavier" interview-based show called ''The Frost Programme''. Guests included [[Oswald Mosley]] and [[Rhodesia]]n premier [[Ian Smith]]. His memorable dressing-down of insurance fraudster [[Emil Savundra]], regarded as the first example of "[[Emil Savundra#Frost Programme controversy|trial by television]]" in the UK, led to concern from ITV executives that it might affect Savundra's right to a fair trial.<ref name="Jeffries"/> Frost's introductory words for his television programmes during this period, "Hello, good evening and welcome", became his [[catchphrase]] and were often mimicked.<ref name="bbc_obit"/>

Frost was a member of a successful consortium, including former executives from the BBC, that bid for an ITV franchise in 1967. This became [[London Weekend Television]], which began broadcasting in July 1968. The station began with a programming policy that was considered "[[highbrow]]" and suffered launch problems with low audience ratings and financial problems. A September 1968 meeting of the Network Programme Committee, which made decisions about the channel's scheduling, was particularly fraught, with [[Lew Grade]] expressing hatred of Frost in his presence.<ref>David Frost ''An Autobiography: Part One From Congregation to Audiences'', London: HarperCollins, 1993, p. 382.</ref><ref name="teletronic10">[http://www.teletronic.co.uk/itv_story_10.htm "British TV History: The ITV Story: Part 10: The New Franchises"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130724030723/http://teletronic.co.uk/itv_story_10.htm |date=24 July 2013}}, Teletronic</ref> Frost, according to [[Kitty Muggeridge]] in 1967, had "risen without a trace."<ref>[http://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking_news_detail.asp?id=40417&icid=4&d_str=20130902 "Broadcaster Frost rose from satire to friendly interviewer"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905134755/http://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking_news_detail.asp?id=40417&icid=4&d_str=20130902 |date=5 September 2015}}, ''The Standard'' (Hong Kong), 2 September 2013.</ref>

He was involved in the station's early years as a presenter. On 20 and 21 July 1969, during the [[British television Apollo 11 coverage]], he presented ''David Frost's Moon Party'' for LWT, a ten-hour discussion and entertainment marathon from LWT's [[The Fountain Studios|Wembley Studios]], on the night [[Neil Armstrong]] walked on the moon. Two of his guests on this programme were British historian [[A. J. P. Taylor]] and entertainer [[Sammy Davis, Jr.]]<ref name="ITV">{{cite web |title=ITV Moon Landing Coverage |publisher=British TV History |url=http://www.tvhistory.btinternet.co.uk/html/moon_itv.html |access-date=18 February 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723002934/http://www.tvhistory.btinternet.co.uk/html/moon_itv.html |archive-date=23 July 2011 |df=dmy}}</ref> Around this time Frost interviewed [[Rupert Murdoch]] whose recently acquired Sunday newspaper, the ''[[News of the World]]'', had just serialised the memoirs of [[Christine Keeler]], a central figure in the [[Profumo affair|Profumo scandal]] of 1963. For the Australian publisher, this was a bruising encounter, although Frost said that he had not intended it to be.<ref>Jerome Tuccille [https://books.google.com/books?id=2mj1FcArTE8C&pg=PA29 ''Rupert Murdoch: Creator of a Worldwide Media Empire''], Washington: Beard Books, 2003 [1989], pp. 29-30.</ref> Murdoch confessed to his biographer [[Michael Wolff (journalist)|Michael Wolff]] that the incident had convinced him that Frost was "an arrogant bastard, [and] a bloody bugger".<ref>Gideon Haigh [http://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2009/march/1274508026/gideon-haigh/vanity-fare "Vanity Fair: Michael Wolff's ''The Man Who Owns the News''"], ''The Monthly'' (Australia), March 2009.</ref>

In the late 1960s Frost began an intermittent involvement in the film industry. Setting up [[David Paradine Productions|David Paradine Ltd]] in 1966,<ref name="Leapman">Michael Leapman [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/sir-david-frost-pioneering-journalist-and-broadcaster-whose-fame-often-equalled-that-of-his-interviewees-8793246.html "Sir David Frost: Pioneering journalist and broadcaster whose fame often equalled that of his interviewees"], ''The Independent'', 1 September 2013</ref><ref>''The Daily Telegraph'' obituary says 'David Paradine Productions' was established in 1968.</ref> he part-financed ''[[The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer]]'' (1970), in which the lead character was based partly on Frost, and gained an executive producer credit. In 1976, Frost was the executive producer of the British [[musical film]] ''[[The Slipper and the Rose]]'', retelling the story of [[Cinderella]].

Frost was the subject of ''[[This Is Your Life (British TV series)|This Is Your Life]]'' in January 1972 when he was surprised by [[Eamonn Andrews]] at London's [[Quaglino's]] restaurant.{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}}

==American career from 1968 to 1980==
[[File:Mamie Eisenhower, David Frost, Pat Nixon, Mona Frost, and President Richard Nixon in Front of a White House Christmas Tree.jpg|thumb|right|Frost with [[President of the United States|President]] [[Richard Nixon]], [[Pat Nixon]], [[Mamie Eisenhower]], and Mona Frost in 1970]]
In 1968, he signed a contract worth £125,000 to appear on American television in his own show on three evenings each week, the largest such arrangement for a British television personality<ref name="Telegraphobit"/> at the time. From 1969 to 1972, Frost kept his London shows and fronted ''The David Frost Show'' on the [[Westinghouse Broadcasting|Group W]] (U.S. Westinghouse Corporation) television stations in the U.S.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20020820154917/http://www.thedavidfrostshow.com/guests.htm The David Frost Show]</ref> His 1970 TV special, ''Frost on America'', featured guests such as [[Jack Benny]] and [[Tennessee Williams]].<ref name="museumtv">{{cite web | url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/F/htmlF/frostdavid/frostdavid.htm | title=FROST, DAVID | last=Zajacz | first=Rita | work=The [[Museum of Broadcast Communications]] | access-date=29 November 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090424070906/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/F/htmlF/frostdavid/frostdavid.htm | archive-date=24 April 2009 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

In a declassified transcript of a 1972 telephone call between Frost and [[Henry Kissinger]], President Nixon's [[United States National Security Advisor|national security advisor]] and [[United States Secretary of State|secretary of state]], Frost urged Kissinger to call [[Grandmaster (chess)|chess Grandmaster]] [[Bobby Fischer]] and urge him to compete in that year's [[World Chess Championship 1972|World Chess Championship]].<ref name=harper-2013>{{cite web | author=Lauren Harper | title=Henry Kissinger Jokes About Making a Pawn of Bobby Fischer | url=http://nsarchive.wordpress.com/2013/07/19/henry-kissinger-jokes-about-making-a-pawn-of-bobby-fischer/ | publisher=National Security Archive | access-date=2 August 2013 | date=19 July 2013 | quote=The tournament was dramatic enough thanks to Fischer's antics, but telephone conversation on 3 July 1972, capturing British journalist David Frost asking Kissinger to persuade the grandmaster to attend the championship adds more to the story. Kissinger had an intellectual interest in chess, and the Spassky-Fischer head-to-head alone would have likely piqued his interest in the match, but Frost wanted Kissinger to get involved to ensure Fischer's participation.}}</ref><ref name=frost-kissinger-1972>{{cite web | title=Declassified transcript of phone call from David Frost to Henry Kissinger | url=http://nsarchive.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/kissinger-fischer.pdf | publisher=National Security Archive | date=3 July 1972}}</ref> During this call, Frost revealed that he was working on a novel.<ref name=frost-kissinger-1972/>

Frost interviewed heavyweight boxer [[Muhammad Ali]] in 1974 at [[Muhammad Ali's Training Camp|his training camp]] in [[Deer Lake, Pennsylvania]] before "[[The Rumble in the Jungle]]" with [[George Foreman]]. Ali remarked, "Listen David, when I meet this man, if you think the world was surprised when Nixon resigned, wait till I whip Foreman's behind."<ref>{{cite news | author=Chris Harvey | title=Sir David Frost: his five best interviews | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/10278961/Sir-David-Frost-his-five-best-interviews.html | access-date=25 December 2013 | newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] | date=1 September 2013}}</ref>

In 1977, the [[Nixon Interviews]], which were five 90-minute interviews with former U.S. President [[Richard Nixon]], were broadcast. Nixon was paid $600,000 plus a share of the profits for the interviews, which had to be funded by Frost himself after the U.S. television networks turned down the programme, describing it as "[[checkbook journalism]]". Frost's company negotiated its own deals to syndicate the interviews with local stations across the U.S. and internationally, creating what [[Ron Howard]] described as "the first fourth network".<ref name=StanleyTimes>{{cite news | author=Alessandra Stanley | title=AN APPRAISAL David Frost: Newsman, Showman, and Suave at Both | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/03/arts/television/david-frost-newsman-showman-and-suave-at-both.html | access-date=2 September 2013 | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=2 September 2013}}</ref> Frost taped around 29 hours of interviews with Nixon over four weeks. Nixon, who had previously avoided discussing his role in the [[Watergate scandal]] that had led to his resignation as president in 1974, expressed contrition saying, "I let the American people down and I have to carry that burden with me for the rest of my life".<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324886704579048602335557942 | title=David Frost Dies Aged 74 | newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]] | date=1 September 2013 | access-date=1 September 2013}}</ref><ref name="Stelter">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/02/world/europe/david-frost-known-for-nixon-interview-dead-at-74.html | title=David Frost, Who Interviewed Nixon, Is Dead at 74 | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=1 September 2013 | access-date=1 September 2013}}</ref> Frost asked Nixon whether the president could do something illegal in certain situations such as against antiwar groups and others if he decides "it's in the best interests of the nation or something". Nixon replied: "Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal", by definition.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.landmarkcases.org/united-states-v-nixon/nixons-views-on-presidential-power|title=Nixon's Views on Presidential Power: Excerpts from an Interview with David Frost |publisher=landmarkcases.org |access-date=November 24, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417202919/http://landmarkcases.org/united-states-v-nixon/nixons-views-on-presidential-power|archive-date=April 17, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Transcript of David Frost's Interview with Richard Nixon |author= |website=Teaching American History |date= |access-date=12 October 2021 |url= https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/transcript-of-david-frosts-interview-with-richard-nixon/}}</ref>

Following the 1979 [[Iranian Revolution]], Frost was the last person to interview [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]], the deposed [[Shah]] of Iran.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://news.sky.com/story/1135738/sir-david-frost-dies-of-heart-attack-on-ship | title=Sir David Frost Dies Of Heart Attack On Ship | publisher=[[Sky News]] | date=1 September 2011 | access-date=1 September 2013}}</ref> The interview took place on [[Contadora Island]] in [[Panama]] in January 1980,<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/breakfast_with_frost/4089823.stm "On Iran"], (''Breakfast with Frost'') BBC News, 12 December 2004</ref> and was broadcast by the [[American Broadcasting Company]] in the U.S. on 17 January.<ref>Gholam Reza Afkham [https://books.google.com/books?id=pTVSPmyvtkAC&pg=PA655&lpg=PA655 ''The Life and Times of the Shah''], Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008, p. 655 n.17:7</ref> The Shah talks about his wealth, his illness, the [[SAVAK]], the [[torture]] during his reign, [[Khomeini]], his threat of extradition to Iran and draws a summary of the current situation in Iran.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.paleycenter.org/collection/item/?q=see&p=56&item=T80:0356|title=20/20 {David Frost Interviews the Shah of Iran} (Tv)}}</ref>

Frost was an organiser of the [[Music for UNICEF Concert]] at the [[United Nations General Assembly]] in 1979. Ten years later, he was hired as the anchor of new American tabloid news program ''[[Inside Edition]]''. He was dismissed after only three weeks because of poor ratings. It seems he was "considered too high-brow for the show's low-brow format."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yN4cAAAAIBAJ&pg=5000%2C1276209 |title='Inside Edition' Boss has Chilling News for David Frost |newspaper=[[The Pittsburgh Press]] |date=3 February 1989 |access-date=9 December 2015}}</ref>

==After 1980==
[[File:Defense.gov News Photo 050613-D-9880W-071.jpg|thumb|Interview for the BBC with [[Donald Rumsfeld]] in 2005]]
Frost was one of the "Famous Five" who launched [[TV-am]] in February 1983; however, like LWT in the late 1960s, the station began with an unsustainable "highbrow" approach. Frost remained a presenter after restructuring. ''Frost on Sunday'' began in September 1983 and continued until the station lost its franchise at the end of 1992. Frost had been part of an unsuccessful consortium, [[CPV-TV]], with [[Richard Branson]] and other interests, which had attempted to acquire three ITV contractor franchises prior to the changes made by the [[Independent Television Commission]] in 1991. After transferring from ITV, his Sunday morning interview programme ''[[Breakfast with Frost]]'' ran on the BBC from January 1993 until 29 May 2005. For a time it ran on [[British Satellite Broadcasting|BSB]] before moving to [[BBC One|BBC 1]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Sir David Frost: the most illustrious TV inquisitor of his generation|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/sir-david-frost-the-most-illustrious-tv-inquisitor-of-his-generation-8793240.html|work=Evening Standard|date=2 September 2013}}</ref>

Frost hosted ''[[Through the Keyhole]]'', which ran on several UK channels from 1987 until 2008 and also featured [[Loyd Grossman]]. Produced by his own production company, the programme was first shown in prime time and on daytime television in its later years.<ref name="Leapman" />

Frost worked for [[Al Jazeera English]], presenting a live weekly hour-long current affairs programme, ''[[Frost Over The World]]'', which started when the network launched in November 2006. The programme regularly made headlines with interviewees such as [[Tony Blair]], President [[Omar al-Bashir]] of Sudan, Prime Minister [[Benazir Bhutto]] of Pakistan and President [[Daniel Ortega]] of Nicaragua. The programme was produced by the former ''[[Question Time (TV series)|Question Time]]'' editor and ''[[Independent on Sunday]]'' journalist Charlie Courtauld. Frost was one of the first to interview the man who authored the [[Fatwa on Terrorism]], [[Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoS5w-HVLA8 | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211109/EoS5w-HVLA8| archive-date=2021-11-09 | url-status=live|title=Frost over the World – Rafael Moreno and Muhammad Tahir al-Qadri |publisher=Youtube.com |access-date=26 October 2010}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

During his career as a broadcaster, Frost became one of [[Concorde]]'s most frequent fliers, having flown between London and New York an average of 20 times per year for 20 years.<ref>{{cite book|last=Orlebar|first=Christopher|title=The Concorde Story|page=181|publisher=Osprey Publishing|year=2004|isbn=978-1-85532-667-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Quest|first=Richard|title=Why Concorde mattered|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/why-concorde-mattered-583699.html|work=The Independent|date=3 October 2003}}{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

In 2007, Frost hosted a discussion with Libya's leader [[Muammar Gaddafi]] as part of the [[Monitor Group]]'s involvement in the country.<ref name="nprorg1">{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2011/03/10/134411798/mass-firms-libya-work-may-have-violated-fara-act |title=U.S. Firm Under Fire For Gadhafi Makeover Contract|first= Peter|last= Overby|publisher=Npr.org |date=10 March 2011 |access-date=1 September 2013}}</ref> In June 2010, Frost presented ''Frost on Satire'', an hour-long [[BBC Four]] documentary looking at the history of television satire.

==Achievements==
[[File:Vladimir Putin with David Frost-1.jpg|thumb|Frost interviewing [[Vladimir Putin]] for the BBC's ''[[Breakfast with Frost]]'' in March 2000]]

Frost was the only person to have interviewed all eight [[List of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom|British prime ministers]] serving between 1964 and 2016 ([[Harold Wilson]], [[Edward Heath]], [[James Callaghan]], [[Margaret Thatcher]], [[John Major]], [[Tony Blair]], [[Gordon Brown]], and [[David Cameron]]) and all seven U.S. presidents in office between 1969 and 2008 (Richard Nixon, [[Gerald Ford]], [[Jimmy Carter]], [[Ronald Reagan]], [[George H. W. Bush]], [[Bill Clinton]], and [[George W. Bush]]).<ref name="Jeffries"/>

He was a patron and former vice-president of the [[Motor Neurone Disease Association]] charity, as well as being a patron of the [[Alzheimer's Research Trust]], Hearing Star Benevolent Fund,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hearingstar.org.uk/star_benevolent_fund |title=Hearing Star Benevolent Fund |publisher=Hearing Star |access-date=26 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002004020/http://www.hearingstar.org.uk/star_benevolent_fund |archive-date=2 October 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[East Anglia]]'s Children's Hospices, the Home Farm Trust and the [[Elton John AIDS Foundation]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ejaf.com/about/our-patrons/ |title=Our patrons |publisher=Elton John AIDS Foundation | access-date=1 September 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title=Who's Who in Charities 2007 | publisher=CaritasData | isbn=1-904964-27-3|year=2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.alzheimers-research.org.uk/aboutus/whoweare/people.php?type=Patrons | title=Patrons page at Alzheimer's Research UK | website=Alzheimersresearchuk.org | access-date=4 October 2011 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101023211205/http://www.alzheimers-research.org.uk/aboutus/whoweare/people.php?type=Patrons |archive-date=23 October 2010 | df=dmy-all}}</ref> He was also recognized for his contributions to the women's charity "Wellbeing for Women".<ref>{{cite news | title=Why Sir David Frost 'worked tirelessly for a women's charity'
| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/10280351/David-Frost-raised-millions-for-womens-charity-but-why.html | access-date=27 February 2015}}</ref>

After having been in television for 40 years, Frost was estimated to be worth [[£]]200 million by the ''[[Sunday Times Rich List]]'' in 2006,<ref name="Beresford">{{cite book | editor=Philip Beresford | title=The "Sunday Times" Rich List 2006–2007: 5,000 of the Wealthiest People in the United Kingdom| year=2006 | publisher=A & C Black Publishers Ltd. | isbn=0-7136-7941-7}}</ref> a figure he considered a significant overestimate in 2011.<ref name="Hattenstone"/> The valuation included the assets of his main British company and subsidiaries, plus homes in London and the country.<ref name="Beresford"/>

==''Frost/Nixon''==
{{Main|The Nixon Interviews|Frost/Nixon (play)|Frost/Nixon (film)}}

''Frost/Nixon'' was originally a play written by [[Peter Morgan]], developed from the interviews that Frost had conducted with Richard Nixon in 1977. ''[[Frost/Nixon (play)|Frost/Nixon]]'' was presented as a stage production in London in 2006 and on Broadway in 2007. [[Frank Langella]] won a Leading Actor [[Tony Award]] for his portrayal of Nixon; the play also received nominations for Best Play and Best Direction.

The play was adapted into a Hollywood motion picture entitled ''[[Frost/Nixon (film)|Frost/Nixon]]'' and starring [[Michael Sheen]] as Frost and Langella as Nixon, both reprising their stage roles. The film was released in 2008 and directed by [[Ron Howard]]. It was nominated for five [[Golden Globe Award]]s, winning none: Best Motion Picture-Drama, Best Director-Drama, Best Actor-Drama (Langella), Best Screenplay, and Best Original Score.<ref>[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ifcdf033a039397d33af1e1010cab7e66?pn=2] {{subscription required}} {{webarchive | url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081214141351/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ifcdf033a039397d33af1e1010cab7e66?pn=2 | date=14 December 2008}}</ref> It was also nominated for five [[Academy Award]]s, again winning none: Best Picture, Best Actor (Langella), Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing.

In February 2009, Frost was featured on the [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]'s international affairs programme ''[[Foreign Correspondent (TV series)|Foreign Correspondent]]'' in a report titled "The World According To Frost", reflecting on his long career and portrayal in the film ''Frost/Nixon''.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2009/s2494109.htm | title=The World According to Frost | author=Mark Corcoran | date=17 February 2009 | work=[[ABC Online]]}}</ref>

==Personal life==
[[File:David Frost and Diahann Carroll, 1971.jpg|thumb|David Frost and [[Diahann Carroll]] in 1971]]
Frost was known for several relationships with high-profile women. In the mid-1960s, he dated British actress [[Janette Scott]], between her marriages to songwriter [[Jackie Rae]] and singer [[Mel Tormé]]; in the early 1970s he was engaged to American actress [[Diahann Carroll]]; between 1972 and 1977 he had a relationship with British socialite Caroline Cushing; in 1981, he married [[Lynne Frederick]], widow of [[Peter Sellers]], but they divorced the following year.<ref name="TimeLine" /> He also had an 18-year intermittent affair with American actress [[Carol Lynley]].<ref>W. Lee Cozad, ''More Magnificent Mountain Movies: The Silverscreen Years, 1940–2004'', p. 219 (Sunstroke Media, 2006). {{ISBN|978-0-9723372-2-9}}</ref>

On 19 March 1983, Frost married Lady Carina Fitzalan-Howard, daughter of the [[Miles Fitzalan-Howard, 17th Duke of Norfolk|17th Duke of Norfolk]].<ref name="TimeLine" /> Three sons were born to the couple over the next five years.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10278859/Sir-David-Frost.html |title=Obituary: David Frost |date=1 September 2013 |newspaper=The Telegraph |access-date=2 January 2017}}</ref> His second son, [[Wilfred Frost]], followed in his father's footsteps and currently works as an anchor at [[Sky News]] and [[CNBC]]. They lived for many years in [[Chelsea, London]], and kept a weekend home at [[Michelmersh Court]] in Hampshire.<ref>{{cite news|title=For sale: the stunning Hampshire home of Sir David Frost|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/buyingsellingandmoving/9899668/For-sale-the-stunning-Hampshire-home-of-Sir-David-Frost.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130302002817/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/buyingsellingandmoving/9899668/For-sale-the-stunning-Hampshire-home-of-Sir-David-Frost.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-03-02|newspaper=Daily Telegraph}}</ref>

==Death==
On 31 August 2013, Frost was aboard the [[Cunard Line|Cunard]] cruise ship {{ship|MS|Queen Elizabeth}} when he died of a heart attack at the age of 74.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23920336 |title=Sir David Frost, broadcaster and writer, dies at 74 |work=BBC News |access-date=1 September 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/10278832/Sir-David-Frost-dies-of-heart-attack.html |publisher=[[Telegraph Media Group]] |first=Claire |last=Carter |title=Sir David Frost dies of heart attack |date=1 September 2013 |access-date=2 September 2013 |newspaper=The Telegraph}}</ref> Cunard said that the vessel had left [[Southampton]] for a ten-day cruise in the [[Mediterranean]], ending in [[Rome]].<ref name=Cunard>[http://www.itv.com/news/meridian/update/2013-09-01/cruise-company-pays-tribute-to-sir-david-frost/ "Sir David Frost has died. Cruise company pays tribute to Sir David Frost"], ITV News.</ref> A [[Autopsy|post-mortem]] found that Frost had [[hypertrophic cardiomyopathy]]. Frost's son, Miles, died from the same condition at the age of 31 in 2015.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/feb/01/david-frost-son-miles-same-heart-condition-as-broadcaster |title=David Frost's late son not told of heart condition inherited from father |work=The Guardian |date=1 February 2016 |access-date=27 January 2017}}</ref>

A funeral service was held at Holy Trinity Church in [[Nuffield, Oxfordshire]], on 12 September 2013,<ref>[https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/david-frost-funeral-broadcaster-laid-2270149 "Sir David Frost funeral: Broadcaster laid to rest in "wonderful send-off"]. ''[[Daily Mirror]]'', 12 September 2013.</ref> after which he was interred in the church's graveyard.

On 13 March 2014, a memorial service was held at [[Westminster Abbey]], at which Frost was honoured with a memorial stone in [[Poets' Corner]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-26560919 |title=Stars gather to honour Sir David Frost |date=13 March 2014 |work=BBC News}}</ref>

==Tributes==
British Prime Minister [[David Cameron]] paid tribute, saying: "He could be—and certainly was with me—both a friend and a fearsome interviewer."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/09/20139110390232426.html |title=Al Jazeera host David Frost dies|work=aljazeera.com|date=2 September 2013|access-date=9 May 2017}}</ref> [[Michael Grade]] commented: "He was kind of a television [[Polymath|renaissance man]]. He could put his hand to anything. He could turn over Richard Nixon or he could win the comedy prize at the [[Rose d'Or|Montreux Golden Rose]] festival."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/sep/01/david-frost-dies-74-heart-attack |title=David Frost dies aged 74|newspaper=The Guardian |date=September 2013|access-date=1 September 2013}}</ref>

==Selected awards and honours==
* 1970: Officer of the [[Order of the British Empire]] (OBE)<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=45117|date=5 June 1970|pages=6373–6374 |supp=y}}</ref>
* 1970: Honorary [[Doctor of Laws]] degree of [[Emerson College]]
* 1993: [[Knight Bachelor]]<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=53284|date=23 April 1993|page=7209}}</ref>
* 1994: Honorary doctoral degree of the [[University of Sussex]]<ref name=gspeaker />
* 2000: Golden Plate Award of the [[Academy of Achievement|American Academy of Achievement]]<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url= https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#public-service}}</ref>
* 2005: Fellowship of the [[British Academy of Film and Television Arts]] [[BAFTA]]<ref name=gspeaker>{{cite web|url=http://www.gspeakers.com/speaker/?speaker=Frost_David|title=David Frost – Speaker Profile – Global Speakers Bureau|work=gspeakers.com}}</ref>
* 2009: Honorary [[Doctor of Letters]] degree of the [[University of Winchester]]<ref name=gspeaker />
* 2009: [[Lifetime Achievement Emmy|Lifetime Achievement Award]] at the [[Emmy Award]]s<ref name=gspeaker />

==Bibliography==
; Non-fiction
* ''How to Live Under Labour – or at Least Have as Much Chance as Anyone Else'' (1964)
* ''To England with Love'' (1968). With [[Antony Jay]].
* ''The Presidential Debate, 1968: David Frost talks with Vice-President Hubert H. Humphrey (and others)'' (1968).
* ''The Americans'' (1970)
* ''Billy Graham Talks with David Frost'' (1972)
* ''Whitlam and Frost: The Full Text of Their TV Conversations Plus Exclusive New Interviews'' (1974)
* ''"I Gave Them a Sword": Behind the Scenes of the Nixon Interviews'' (1978). Reissued as ''Frost/Nixon'' in 2007.
* ''David Frost's Book of Millionaires, Multimillionaires, and Really Rich People'' (1984)
* ''The World's Shortest Books'' (1987)
* ''An Autobiography. Part 1: From Congregations to Audiences'' (1993)

; With [[Michael Deakin]] and illustrated by [[Willie Rushton]]
* ''I Could Have Kicked Myself: David Frost's Book of the World's Worst Decisions'' (1982)
* ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (1983)
* ''If You'll Believe That'' (1986)

; With [[Michael Shea (author)|Michael Shea]]
* ''The Mid-Atlantic Companion, or, How to Misunderstand Americans as Much as They Misunderstand Us'' (1986)
* ''The Rich Tide: Men, Women, Ideas and Their Transatlantic Impact'' (1986)

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|David Frost}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{IMDb name|id=0296484}}
* {{C-SPAN|4594}}
* {{British Comedy Guide|people|david_frost}}
* {{Discogs artist}}
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/breakfast_with_frost/737846.stm David Frost] [[BBC News]] profile
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140209042755/http://www.tvcream.co.uk/?tag=david-frost David Frost] on TV Cream
* [http://www.tvcream.co.uk/?p=13290 TV Cream on Paradine Productions]

{{David Frost}}
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{{BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award}}
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