Allan Parker

Alan William Parker (Islington, London, England, February 14, 1944 - London, July 31, 2020) was a British film director and producer, writer and actor. He worked in both the UK and Hollywood film industries and was one of the founders of Britain's Director's Guild. Among his best known works are The Midnight Express (1978), Fame (1980) and Pink Floyd The Wall (1982). In 1985 he won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival for his film Birdy (1984).

Biography

He was born into a working-class family to Elsie Ellen, a dressmaker, and William Leslie Parker, a house painter. He attended the secondary school founded in Islington by Dame Alice Owens. In the 1960s he dropped out of school and was hired by advertising agencies as a copywriter. He soon took it upon himself to direct the filming of the commercials. His most famous and enduring work from this time came at the Collett, Dickenson and Pearce agency in London. Among them was the advertisement for the Cinzano vermouth house, starring Leonard Rossiter and Joan Collins, exhibited in the United Kingdom.

His beginnings in the cinema coincide with his meeting with producer David Puttnam, who produced the film Melody in 1971, one of whose screenwriters was Parker. Thereafter, Puttnam would produce several of Parker's films, including The Midnight Express (1978), which marked his breakthrough as a director. The film is set in a Turkish prison and was adapted from the autobiographical narrative of Billy Hayes, an American arrested in 1970 with several kilos of hashish at Istanbul airport sentenced to thirty years in prison before managing to escape.

With this work he achieved critical acclaim and won two Oscars from the Hollywood Academy of 6 nominations, including those for "Best Director" and "Best Picture". The film was banned in Turkey until 1993. Parker would later challenge for Best Director again for Burning Mississippi (1988), which garnered six more nominations, including Best Picture. His last notable works were the film adaptation of the novel Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, which he made in 1999, and The Life of David Gale from 2003, a criticism of the death penalty.

He also directed some musicals, including Bugsy Malone (1976), Fame (1980), Pink Floyd The Wall (1982), The Commitments (1991) and, in 1996, Evita.

He died on July 31, 2020 after a long illness, the family announced in a statement.

Awards and recognitions

In 2002 he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire and in 2005 received an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the University of Sunderland, whose rector is David Puttnam.

Filmography

• 1976: Bugsy Malone, Al Capone's grandson. His first film. She was nominated for eight awards from the British Academy of Films, of which she received five.It is a musical film about gangsters that are children. There are no bullets, but cream guns. Performers: Scott Baio, Jodie Foster, Florrie Dugger, John Cassisi, Martin Lev, Paul Murphy, Andrew Paul.
• 1978: Midnight express. He got two Oscars, six nominations, and six Golden Globes. After moving to Los Angeles (California), he was introduced to a young and unknown screenwriter, named Oliver Stone. With Midnight ExpressParker realized the power of a movie to move the audience.
• 1980: Fama. He got two Oscars from the six nominations, and six Golden Globes. He gave rise to a very successful TV series.
• 1981: After love. He found it difficult because he summoned him to break his own marriage.
• 1982: Pink Floyd, The Wall. Alan Parker, the visual aspect of the film was much more interested than the message.
• 1984: Birdywho received the special award from the Festival de Cannes. With Matthew Modine and Nicolas Cage (two actors until then unknown).
• 1987: The Heart of the Angel. With Mickey Rourke and Robert De Niro. It was classified as X film initially in the US. U.S., which forced to cut some scenes. It's an extraordinary mix of black cinema and jewelry.
• 1988: Arde Mississippi. With Gene Hackman and William Dafoe. Seven nominations to the Oscars. He received three awards from the British academy. Interesting film about racism.
• 1990: Welcome to paradise. With Dennis Quaid. Alan Parker insisted on this film because it seemed to him that he had not said everything he wanted about racism.
• 1991: The Commitments. He received the award for the best director at the Tokyo festival. He received four awards from the British Academy. It was the first professional experience of the later successful group The Corrs.
• 1994: Battle Creek spa. Written and directed by Alan Parker. Interpreted by Anthony Hopkins, Bridget Fonda, Matthew Broderick and John Cusack. He said he did it because he wanted to make a fun movie.
• 1996: Avoid. Adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical. Written, directed and produced by Alan Parker, who wanted to do a theatre opera. Starring Madonna and Antonio Banderas. He won three Golden Globes (one of them, for Madonna) and the Oscar to the best original song (You must love meadded for the film. She was nominated to four other statuettes. Although filmed in much of the outdoors, and thus without the limitations of the theatre, he followed the songs to the letter, without additional dialogues. The music was recorded before the shooting, and the actors had to make their papers following the playback.
• 1999: The ashes of Angela. With Emily Watson and Robert Carlyle. He passed from the greatness of Evita to the simplicity of this film. But it wasn't less difficult, because it had to work with children. According to the director himself, "he tried to do different things, because the variation keeps creativity fresh."
• 2003: David Gale's life. With Kevin Spacey and Kate Winslet. An allegation against capital punishment was a failure in the box office. Critics were not satisfied with this film exercise either.

Awards and recognitions

Oscar Awards

Cannes International Film Festival

BAFTA Awards

Medals of the Film Writers Circle