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.
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