Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 759-760. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999.
Directed 3 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: George C. Scott, Janet Suzman and Laurence Olivier.
Father of Jenny Schaffner & Kate Schaffner.
Grandfather of Matthew Schaffner.
He served as TV counselor to President John F. Kennedy in 1961-1963.
He was president of Gilchrist Productions from 1962- 1968, and then president of Franklin Schaffner Productions from 1968- 1989.
His Film and TV production files have been donated to Franklin & Marshall College Library in Lancaster, Pennsyvlania.
In 1960, he directed "Advise and Consent" on Broadway.
In 1977, the Franklin J. Schaffner Film Library was established at his alma mater, Franklin and Marshall College.
President of the Directors Guild of America (DGA). [1987-1989]
Schaffner was a member of the Directors Guild of America (president 1987-89), the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Phi Beta Kappa, the Center Theater Group of the Music Center in Los Angeles, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, the National Council of the Arts, the Presidential Task Force on the Arts and Humanities, and the American Film Institute.