Randall Franks

Randall Franks is an American film and television actor, author, and a bluegrass singer and musician who plays fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and mountain dulcimer. He was inducted into the Independent Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013; recognized by the International Bluegrass Music Museum in 2010 as a Bluegrass Legend; inducted into the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004; and was designated the "Appalachian Ambassador of the Fiddle".

TV and movies

After taking a hiatus (2001-2009) from film and dramatic television, he returned in 2009 as attorney Alvin Potter for Robert Townsend's Musical Theater of Hope.

Franks came to television as a youth performing on variety shows as a musician and singer. Franks began his movie career in 1988 with a singing role in the movie Desperate For Love appearing with Christian Slater, Brian Bloom and Tammy Lauren. Like many actors his early appearances were in bit roles such as a sports reporter in "Blind Side" in 1988 and as a wealthy wrestling enthusiast in Hulk Hogan's "No Holds Barred" before landing his break through role on network television on "In the Heat of the Night."

Franks

The Franks (Latin: Franci or gens Francorum) are historically first known as a group of Germanic tribes that roamed the land between the Lower and Middle Rhine in the 3rd century AD, and second as the people of Gaul who merged with the Gallo-Roman populations during succeeding centuries, passing on their name to modern-day France and becoming part of the heritage of the modern French people. Some Franks raided Roman territory, while other Frankish tribes joined the Roman troops of Gaul. In later times, Franks became the military rulers of the northern part of Roman Gaul. With the coronation of their ruler Charlemagne as Imperator Romanorum by Pope Leo III in 800 AD, he and his successors were portrayed as legitimate successors to the emperors of the Western Roman Empire.

The Salian Franks lived on Roman-held soil between the Rhine, Scheldt, Meuse, and Somme rivers in what is now Northern France, Belgium and the southern Netherlands. The kingdom was acknowledged by the Romans after 357 AD. Following the collapse of Rome in the West, the Frankish tribes were united under the Merovingians, who succeeded in conquering most of Gaul in the 6th century. The Franks became very powerful after this. The Merovingian dynasty, descendants of the Salians, founded one of the Germanic monarchies that would absorb large parts of the Western Roman Empire. The Frankish state consolidated its hold over the majority of western Europe by the end of the 8th century, developing into the Carolingian Empire. This empire would gradually evolve into the state of France and the Holy Roman Empire.

Franks (disambiguation)

The Franks were a confederacy of ancient to early medieval Germanic tribes.

Franks may also refer to:

See also

Franks (surname)

Franks is also an Anglo-American surname, derived from the given name Frank. The name is on record in Virginia from the 1660s.

People with the surname include: