Gray Frederickson

(1937 - 2022)

Profession: Movie and TV Producer

Hometown: Oklahoma City

Inducted: 2019

Oscar and Emmy award-winning producer Gray Frederickson’s career spanned more than five decades. Courtesy Oklahoma Hall of Fame Archives.
Oscar and Emmy award-winning producer Gray Frederickson’s career spanned more than five decades. Courtesy Oklahoma Hall of Fame Archives.

Harry Gray Frederickson, Jr. grew up in Oklahoma City and attended Casady School. As a teenager, his love for the cinema influenced him to pursue a job as an usher at the Lakeside Theater. After graduating from Casady, Frederickson attended the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, but eventually returned and finished his higher education at the University of Oklahoma in Norman.

After graduating, Frederickson initially pursued the American film industry in Rome, but quickly returned to Oklahoma to finance his first film, Natika (1963). Following the completion of this picture, he continued to produce film after film, eventually moving to Los Angeles where he would meet and partner up with Canadian film producer Al Ruddy. This partnership would lead to the two working with Francis Ford Coppola on The Godfather (1972). Frederickson would continue to work with the director on The Outsiders (1983), a film which Frederickson would connect back to his roots by having it filmed in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Frederickson also created one of the first film programs in Oklahoma at Oklahoma City Community College and it is rated in the top 40 film schools in America and Canada. After a storied career, Frederickson's legacy remains with the contributions he made to the film industry in Oklahoma and beyond.

Three of Gray Frederickson’s films are included in The American Film Institute’s Top 100. Courtesy Oklahoma Hall of Fame Archives.
Three of Gray Frederickson’s films are included in The American Film Institute’s Top 100. Courtesy Oklahoma Hall of Fame Archives.

Want to learn more?

Click below to watch Gray Frederickson talk about his life, his career, and the importance of education. 


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