Frank Beyer was born in Nobitz, Thuringia on May 26, 1932. In 1951 he worked as a scenario editor and as an assistant director at the Theater in Glauchau/Crimmitschau. He later studied theater in Berlin, and directing at the famed Prague Film School (FAMU) with Milos Forman and other budding Czechoslovakian directors. After completing Zwei Muetter, his thesis film, Beyer began directing at the DEFA Feature Film Studios in 1957. His film Trace of Stones was banned by GDR state officials for being "politically inappropriate." He was not allowed to work as a film director again until his re-emergence in 1974 with Jacob the Liar, which was nominated for best foreign film at the Academy Awards in 1977. Beyer was known for directing some of the most powerful and historically significant films at DEFA. Since DEFA's dissolution he continued to work primarily in television, such as Geschlossene Gesellschaft, and Ende der Unschuld about German physicists and the building of the atomic bomb.

Frank Beyer died on October 1, 2006, aged 74, in Berlin after a long illness.

Filmography

Two Mothers (Zwei Muetter) 1957; An Old Love (Eine alte Liebe) 1959; Five Cartridges (Fuenf Patronenhuelsen) 1960; Star-Crossed Lovers (Koenigskinder) 1962; Naked Among Wolves (Nackt unter Woelfen) 1963; Carbide and Sorrel (Karbid und Sauerampfer) 1963; Trace of Stones (Spur der Steine) 1966; Jacob the Liar (Jakob der Luegner) 1974; Hiding Place (Das Versteck) 1977; Turning Point (Der Aufenthalt) 1983; Taken for a Ride (Bockshorn) 1984; The Break (Der Bruch) 1989; The Suspicion (Der Verdacht) 1991; Nikolai Church (Nikolaikirche) 1995.

TV-Productions: Rottenknechte (Rottenknechte)1970; The Seven Affairs of Dona Juanita (Der sieben Affaeren der Dona Juanita)1973; Private Party (Geschlossene Gesellschaft) 1978; The King and his Jester (Der Koenig und sein Narr) 1981; The Second Skin (Die zweite Haut) 1981; End of the Guilt (Ende der Unschuld) 1991; Her and Him (Sie und Er) 1991; The Big Celebration (Das grosse Fest) 1992; The Last U-Boat (Das letzte U-Boot) 1993; When the Germans Are Sleeping (Wenn alle Deutschen schlafen) 1995; The General from Koepenick (Der Hauptmann von Koepenick) 1997.