H. Gray Frederickson Jr.

Gray Frederickson, of Oklahoma City, died at home surrounded by family on November 20, 2022, at the age of 85. Gray was one of the good ones. He loved life, his family, and his friends. Gray was born in Oklahoma City July 21, 1937. He grew up in Nichols Hills and attended Casady School. He then went on to the University of Oklahoma and the University of Lausanne, in Switzerland.

Gray always loved movies and worked as a teenager at the Lakeside Theater on Britton Rd. Gray loved boats, the water, and the sun. He got his first boat at age 12 and kept it on Lake Hefner. He started teaching waterskiing, eventually teaching at the Oklahoma state parks and lodges. Gray became a champion water skier. Gray returned to Europe after graduating from OU and settled in Rome, Italy. It was there that he fell into the film industry. Some of his first films were Nikita and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. He soon returned to the states and settled in Beverly Hills, California. He spent the next 40 years producing films in Los Angeles, including "The Godfather" trilogy, which earned him the Best Picture Academy Award in 1975. Gray always was thinking of his home state. He brought filming for The Outsiders to Oklahoma and later in his career, he did UHF starring Weird Al Yankovic in Tulsa.

Gray met his wife, Karen, in California, and they married in 1990. A long-time bachelor, he had no idea what was to come and the joy he would experience. He always said having children was the best thing that ever happened in his life.

Gray and Karen came back to Oklahoma with their children, Kelsey and Tyler, in 1999. Gray wanted his children to have the idyllic childhood he had and to be raised with the midwestern values. In 2000, Gray began his journey at Oklahoma City Community College as an artist in residence, and he helped launch the school's Digital Cinema Program, which gave students the practical know-how to make and work on movies. He changed many lives and helped fulfill the dreams of students who dreamed of being in the film industry. He helped grow Oklahoma's film industry into what it is today. Gray loved his students and taught his class almost to the end. He finished the final touches and production of his latest and last project "Sherwood Forrest" 2 days before his death. Besides the Oscar for The Godfather Part II, Gray also won an Emmy in 2007 for "Dream No Little Dream: The Life and Legacy of Robert S. Kerr." He won the Dead Center Film Festival's Film and TV Icon Award in 2012 and was added to the Muskogee-based Oklahoma Movie Hall of Fame in 2018. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 2019. Francis Coppola presented him with this award, which Gray considered a greater honor than winning the Academy Award. He said, "The Oscar is an award for Best Picture, but the Oklahoma Hall of Fame is an award for me." He loved Oklahoma and almost never said no to anything asked of him. Gray was also a member of AMPAS, Producers Guild, WGA, DGA, and SAG. Gray also had his favorite charities, with one being Autism Oklahoma. He helped them get "Invisible Layers" film club off the ground, where the members meet weekly to learn about making movies. In April of 2017, the club entered their first film, "Even in Death" into the Autfest Film Festival and won the award for best autistic filmmakers. That same week, the film was up for an award at the Bare Bones Film Festival in Los Angeles, an award Gray proudly accepted on their behalf.

Most of all Gray loved his family. Although he started late in life, he loved being a father. The family spent many weekends at Lake Mead while they lived in Los Angeles and on Grand Lake once they moved to Oklahoma. Gray loved spending time at the family's condo and especially enjoyed sharing with them his love of boats, the water, the sun, and the outdoors. His children meant the world to him, and he is so very proud of both of them and their accomplishments.

Gray is preceded in death by his grandparents, Dorothy and Will McBride and George and Mary Frederickson and his parents, Dorothy and Harry Frederickson. He is survived by his wife of 32 years, Karen, and two adult children, Kelsey and Tyler. He also leaves behind his beloved dog, Piper. The family would like to give a special thanks to Interim Home Health and to his beloved and devoted nurse Jesse.

A memorial service will be held Friday December 2, 2022 at 1:00 pm at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 4400 N. Shartel Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73118. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Autism Oklahoma at 13919-B N. May Ave #106, Oklahoma City, OK 73134