Frank E. Kleinschmidt

Frank Emil Kleinschmidt (1871-1949) was a photographer and documentary cinematographer who explored the Arctic and filmed with the Austro-Hungarian army during World War I.

Kleinschmidt was born in Alt Rüdnitz, Germany, on September 28, 1871. In 1893, he emigrated to the United States while working his way around the globe as a sailor on tramp steamers. Kleinschmidt went to Alaska in 1897 as an explorer during the Klondike Gold Rush, and raised his family there. He had his first experience with making motion pictures around 1909 while shooting film of a walrus hunt. His debut in the film business came when he released a motion picture record of the 1911 Carnegie Pittsburgh Museum expedition to Alaska and Siberia.