Francesco Prosperi

'Franco Prosperi' (qv) (1926-2004) was an Italian film director and screenwriter, active between the mid-1960s and the early 1980s. Born 'Francesco Prosperi' (qv) in Rome, Italy, he began his career as an assistant director to 'Mario Bava' (qv), with whom he also wrote several screenplays. In 1966, he made his directorial debut, credited as Frank Shannon, with the thriller film _The Hired Killer (1966)_ (qv), and over the years he built a solid reputation as a director of crime-action films. He also occasionally directed comedies and in the final stage of his career, at the beginning of the 1980s, several low-budget sword and sorcery films.::X