Franco Prosperi (2 September 1926 – 17 October 2004) was an Italian film director and screenwriter, active between the mid-1960s and the early 1980s.Born Francesco Prosperi in Rome, Prosperi began his career as an assistant director of Mario Bava, with whom he also wrote several of his screenplays. In 1966 he made his directorial debut, credited as Frank Shannon, with the thriller film Tecnica di un omicidio and over the years he build a solid reputation as a director of crime-action films.