| “ | Not to my face and not twice. | „ |
| ~ Frank Phillips on being called Bad Frank. |
Frank "Bad Frank" Phillips was a secondary antagonist in the 2012 television miniseries Hatfields & McCoys.
At one time Bad Frank was an outlaw who had worked with Jesse and Frank James. Claiming to have discovered Jesus, he made his way east back to the Kentucky / West Virginia region.
He was hired by Perry Cline and Randall McCoy to assist the McCoy family in the feud against the Hatfield family, led by Devil Anse Hatfield by putting together a posse. Specifically he was hired to cross into West Virginia and arrest Hatfields, even though cross border actions were not legal unless otherwise authorized. Bad Frank's methods, including scalping the individuals he tracked down and assaulting pastors in church, made Randall uncomfortable. Cline, however, had no moral reservations about using his services.
Bad Frank was later deputized in Kentucky, and married Nancy McCoy. After the feud died down following the deaths of Jim Vance and Ellison "Cottontop" Mounts, Bad Frank sought to cash in on his newfound fame, with Nancy assisting him.
One evening in 1890 Bad Frank encountered Perry Cline at a local tavern. Introduced to Cline's new wife, a drunk Bad Frank insulted Cline by implying he was a pedophile for marrying so young, starting a fight between the two. Drawing his gun, Bad Frank was shot to death. His widow Nancy stated that Bad Frank could kill Hatfields like nobody else.