| Frank Muller | |
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Frank Muller in the title role of King Henry V, Riverside Shakespeare Company, NYC, 1983. |
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| Born | May 5, 1951 Netherlands |
| Died | June 4, 2008 (aged 57) Durham, North Carolina, United States |
| Spouse | Erika |
| Website | |
| frankmullerhome.com | |
Frank Muller (May 5, 1951 – June 4, 2008) was a stage and television actor, but was most famous as an audiobook narrator.
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Muller was born in The Netherlands, the eldest of five children. His family emigrated to the United States when he was five.
Muller was a classically trained actor who began his career working on stage and doing commercials. He spent many years on the New York stage, where he became a company member of the Riverside Shakespeare Company, for which he played the title role in King Henry V, Edmund the Bastard in The History of King Lear, and the title role in Cyrano de Bergerac, as well as performing with the Roundabout Theater Company and the New York Shakespeare Festival among others. He also played supporting roles on television in shows like Law And Order, Life Goes On, Harry and the Hendersons, and All My Children.[1]
It is as an audiobook narrator, however, that he was most famous. In 1979, Henry Trentman founded Recorded Books and hired Muller as a narrator.[2] The company began by publishing audiobook recordings of public domain works such as Call of the Wild and A Tale of Two Cities but later expanded into copyrighted works as audiobooks began to grow in popularity. Muller soon became the narrator of choice for such authors as Stephen King, John le Carré, John Grisham, Elmore Leonard and many others. Muller won the 2003 Audie Award for Best Male Narrator for his reading of Elmore Leonard's Tishomingo Blues.
On November 5, 2001, while riding his motorcycle in Los Angeles, Muller sideswiped a center concrete construction divider. He was thrown from the bike and landed on his head and chest. Although he was wearing a helmet, he suffered severe head trauma and was later diagnosed with diffuse axonal injury.
Muller was taken to Antelope Valley Hospital Medical Center in Lancaster, California, where he went into cardiac arrest three times.
Muller had seven surgeries and was in a coma for over a month. From the time of the accident until his death, he was unable to work.
In 2002, Stephen King, who had also experienced a life-threatening auto accident, organized a benefit for Muller with Pat Conroy, John Grisham, and Peter Straub. King went on to help found the Wavedancer Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping disabled performers, writers, and members of the production community.[3]
Muller was married to Erika Muller and had two children, Diana and Morgan. In 2003, the Mullers moved to a house outside Raleigh, North Carolina, United States, that was modified specifically for Frank's therapeutic and rehabilitative needs.
He died on June 4, 2008 at Duke University Medical Center.[4]