Mark Frechette Movies and Career Information

Mark Frechette (December 4, 1947 – September 27, 1975) was an American film actor. He is best known for his lead role in the 1970 film Zabriskie Point, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, in which he was cast despite having no previous acting experience. He appeared in two other films made in Italy, Many Wars Ago (Uomini Contro, 1970) and La Grande Scrofa Nera (1971). He tithed his $60,000 earnings from Zabriskie Point and other films to Mel Lyman's commune. Frechette, who had no formal acting experience, was selected from among thousands during a casting process that lasted nearly a year as the production searched for the film's lead. He was discovered in Boston by Sally Dennison, Antonioni's assistant and casting director, while in the middle of a violent shouting match at a Charles Street bus-stop. Despite the film being a critical and box office failure, Frechette enjoyed a period of considerable publicity, his face gracing the covers of Look Magazine in November 1969 and Rolling Stone magazine on March 7, 1970 . On August 29, 1973, he and two members of the commune attempted to rob the New England Merchant's Bank in the Fort Hill neighborhood in Boston where they had their