Frank Ellis (portrayed by Carl Chase) was a minor character in Alien 3. He was a prisoner at Fiorina 161 serving a twenty-year sentence for murder. When Ellen Ripley's EEV crashed on Fiorina 161, Frank was among those who responded, climbing inside and discovering that Ripley was still alive, as well as finding the bodies of Dwayne Hicks and Newt.
When a lone Xenomorph started running amok inside the prison, Frank took part in a plan to try and burn the creature out of the complex's ventilation system with quinitricetyline. Whilst ascending a ladder inside the vents, he dropped his detonator — which he had been carelessly carrying between his teeth — almost triggering the explosion early. Fortunately, it landed on a ledge without landing on the trigger. Relieved, Frank descended the ladder to retrieve the detonator—however, this distraction prevented him from noticing the Dragon looking down on him from above, which subsequently moved out of sight while Frank was distracted.
After he recovered the detonator, he continued his ascent of the ladder. Just as he reached the top, he was — to his shock and horror — greeted by the Dragon, which seized him and began mauling him to death. In the struggle, he dropped his bucket of quinitricetyline, which landed directly on the floor below and spilled on the surrounding surface. As Frank was killed, he dropped his detonator, which landed directly on the trigger into the quinitricetyline-soaked floor below, detonating upon impact and triggering a catastrophic chain reaction that resulted in the deaths of many other prisoners.