Two-time Academy Award-nominated director Alan Parker has died at the age of 76 after long illness, per Variety. The British Film Institute announced the news Friday morning. Parker is survived by Lisa Moran, his second wife after Anne Inglis, and his five total children from both marriages.
Parker’s first film was the gangster-musical Bugsy Malone, which was released in 1976 and subsequently nominated for Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. His very next project was perhaps his most lauded, 1978’s Midnight Express, which was written by Oliver Stone and starring Brad Davis as young Turkish man arrested for attempting to sneak hash onto a flight. Midnight Express was again nominated for a Palme d’Or and garnered Parker his first Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. He was once again nominated for Best Director for 1988’s Mississippi Burning.
Among these films, some of Parker’s most memorable include Fame (1980), Shoot the Moon (1982), and The Commitments (1991), among many more.
His career was marked with a unique ability to resonate many eclectic stories with audiences, no matter how different the subject matter of his films may be. Parker’s creative influence lives on in his many amazing films and through the work of his sons, Nathan, screenwriter responsible for the 2018 horror flick Our House, and Jake, a composer.
Leave a Comment