Full name - Frank Michael Howson

Frank was born in Melbourne, Australia. He entered show-business at the age of 7 as a tap dancer, singer and child actor, and had starred in 21 major theatrical productions by his 21st birthday. Ever restless, he became interested in writing his own songs and went on to enjoy great success in this field by having his compositions recorded by such acts as Little River Band, Richie Havens, Dan Hill, Marc Jordan, Eric Idle, Kate Ceberano, Venetta Fields, Guy Pearce, amongst others.

He discovered and published the band, Pseudo Echo who enjoyed much chart success internationally and scored a top 3 hit in the U.S. Howson recorded his own singles and enjoyed success in his homeland.

He also headed a thriving music publishing and recording company. He went on to write many hit theater shows and gained a great deal of respect in Australia for his productions for children. In 1987, he wrote and produced the movie, Boulevard of Broken Dreams (1988), which was nominated for 7 AFI Awards including Best Film. It eventually won two.

From there, Howson wrote and produced What the Moon Saw (1990), Hunting (1990) (which he also directed), Beyond My Reach (1990), My Forgotten Man (1993) (also directed) and others. During that time, he discovered Guy Pearce as a movie actor and starred him in his first 3 films. In 1989, he was presented with the Producer of the Year Award from Film Victoria. His films have been sold to such companies as Miramax, Disney, Warner, Village Roadshow, Paramount, J&M Entertainment, Filmstar, ABC, Hoyts, Skouras, etc. After a very prolonged and messy break-up with his business partner, Howson moved in 1997 to Los Angeles, where he now resides.

He was commissioned to write several screenplays for various producers and has remained active.

In 2000, Arthur Hiller optioned the rights to Howson’s screenplay, “The Lonely Heart”. That same year, he was commissioned by Joe Eszterhas to write original songs for the movie, An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1997). During that time, Howson was asked by acclaimed English actor Steven Berkoff to direct the TV version of his hit off-Broadway play, “Shakespeare’s Villains”.

In July 2001, Frank Howson married actress Terri Garber in Miami, Florida. During the time he spent with Garber, he gave up his showbiz career but, since the split, has written new songs recorded by Little River Band on their 2004 album, “Test of Time”.

He was invited to be President of the Jury for the Melbourne Underground Film Festival in 2005 and is currently writing his memoirs on his life in the movie business. His award- winning song “Andre” was premiered at the Royal Albert Hall by Judith Durham during her latest U.K. tour.

He received the Short Poppy Award in his hometown of Melbourne and his screenplay, “Winter in America”, was performed in a rehearsed reading at the ACMI theatre, Federation Sqaure. In September 2005, he directed the Melbourne premiere of Caryl Churchill‘s acclaimed play, “A Number”, to positive reviews.

The feature length version of “Remembering Nigel” has taken 6 years to complete and now features performances by Martin Landau, Sally Kirkland, Steven Berkoff, Thea Gill, John Savage, Eric Burdon, Mark Rydell, Michael J. Pollard, Alex Scott, P.F. Sloan, Bud Tingwell, Lucy Honigman, Ross Ditcham, Bert Newton, Alan Fletcher, Creed Bratton, Bernard Fowler, Rick Rosas and many other star cameos.

A feature length rough cut version won the Best Foreign Film Award and the Best Music Soundtrack Award at the Paso Robles Film Festival in California. In August 2009 Howson was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Melbourne Underground Film Festival and his film “The Nigel Diaries – The Making of Remembering Nigel” won the Best Documentary Award.

Howson is presently completing his memoirs on his tumultuous life in the film industry and has recently collaborated on new songs with P. F. Sloan (writer of “Eve of Destruction” and “Secret Agent Man” amongst others) and Jack Tempchin (writer for The Eagles, Johnny Rivers and Glenn Frey).  Keith Potger’s new album “Smile Now” contains another 3 songs co-written with Howson. His song “Andre” also appears on the recent Andre Rieu album “Moonlight Serenade” and a version  of the same song appears on the latest Judith Durham hit album “Epiphany”.  A compliation album “I Used To Be An Outlaw – The Songs of Frank Howson” has been released by Aztec Music and contains Howson songs recorded over the years by such artists as Eric Idle, Richie Havens, Littlle River Band, Stephen Cummings, Dan Hill, Marc Jordan, Renee Geyer, Guy Pearce, Billy Miller and others.

Frank Howson has also collaborated with his cousin (John-Michael Howson) on a theatrical musical based on the life of Bobby Darin entitled “Dream Lover” and this has been picked up by internationally successful producer John Frost for a full-scale production later this year. Rhonda Burchmore’s one woman show “Cry Me A River – The World of Julie London” is also based on an original treatment by Howson.

Howson appears as an actor in the latest Richard Wolstencroft film “The Beautiful And Damned” as well as the latest Jason Turley film “Crazy In The Night”.

His epic film about the human journey “Remembering Nigel” is now ready for release.