Alan Parker, a successful and sometimes surprising filmmaker whose diverse production includes “Bugsy Malone,” “Midnight Express” and “Evita,” died at the age of 76, his family said.
A Brit who became a Hollywood heavyweight, Parker also directed “Fame,” “The Engagements, and” The Mississippi Burning. “Together, his films won 10 Academy Awards and 19 British Academy Film Awards.
The director’s family said he died in London on Friday after a long illness.
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Parker was born in London on February 14, 1944 and, like many other aspiring British directors of his generation, including Ridley Scott and Adrian Lyne, he began his advertising career as an advertising copywriter and director of commercials.
FILE – British actor Jonathan Pryce, from left, American actress and singer Madonna and Spanish actor Antonio Banderas appear at a press conference on the musical film “Evita” with British director Alan Parker in Buenos Aires on February 6 1996. Parker, whose films included “Bugsy Malone,” “Midnight Express” and “Evita,” died at the age of 76. A statement from the director’s family says Parker died in London on Friday after a long illness. (AP Photo / Daniel Muzio, file)
He moved on to television with the critically acclaimed 1974 drama “The Evacuees,” which won an International Emmy Award.
The following year he wrote and directed his first feature film, “Bugsy Malone,” an unusual and lush musical pastiche of gangster movies with a cast of children, including a young Jodie Foster.
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That followed with the 1978 feature “Midnight Express,” the reality-based story of the heartbreaking incarceration of an American in a Turkish prison for alleged drug offenses. He won two Oscars, including one for Oliver Stone’s screenplay, and gave Parker the first of two best director nominations.
Parker varied widely between themes and genres. While “Shoot the Moon” (1982) and “Angela’s Ashes” (1999) were family dramas, “Birdy” (1984) was a war and friendship story, “Angel Heart” (1987) a hidden thriller, and “Mississippi Burning” (1988) a powerful civil rights drama that was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Director.
FILE – British actor John Hurt, from left, American actor Brad Davis, author Billy Hayes and British director Alan Parker appear in Cannes, France, for the screening of their movie “Midnight Express” at the 31st International Festival of Cinema on May 18. 1978. Parker, whose films included “Bugsy Malone,” “Midnight Express” and “Evita,” died at the age of 76. A statement from the director’s family says Parker died in London on Friday after a long illness. (AP Photo, file)
Parker was also a notable musical director, a genre that he embraced and expanded upon. “Fame” (1980) was a gritty but celebratory story of life at a performing arts high school; “Pink Floyd – The Wall” (1982) was a surreal rock opera; “The Commitments” (1991) traced the ups and downs of a ramshackle Dublin soul band; and “Evita” (1996) chose Madonna as Argentina’s first lady Eva Perón in a large-screen version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. Her final film was the death row drama “The Life of David Gale” in 2003.
Parker also defended the British film industry, chairing the British Film Institute and the UK Film Council. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2002, and in 2013 he received the highest honor from the British Film Academy, the BAFTA Scholarship.
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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences tweeted: “From fame to Midnight Express, the two-time Oscar nominee Alan Parker was a chameleon. His work entertained us, connected us, and gave us a strong sense of time and place. An extraordinary talent, we are going to miss him a lot ”.
“Rocketman” director Dexter Fletcher said Parker “inadvertently changed my life at age 9” by portraying Fletcher as Babyface in “Bugsy Malone.” He said he is still recognized for the film 45 years later.
Sir Alan Parker attends the opening of the Lyric Hammersmith and “Bugsy Malone” Ruben Foundation Wing at Lyric Hammersmith on April 28, 2015 in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett / Getty Images for Lyric Hammersmith)
Fletcher said Parker “was one of the great, diverse, eclectic and original British filmmakers of his generation and my personal director hero.”
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Fellow British filmmaker David Puttnam said that Parker “was my oldest and closest friend; I was always amazed by his talent. My life, and that of many others who loved and respected him, will never be the same again. ”
Barbara Broccoli, producer of the James Bond films, said Parker’s films “exhibited the elements of his personality that we hold so dear; integrity, humanity, humor and irreverence and rebellion, and certainly entertainment.”
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Parker said, “He never made the same movie twice.”
Parker is survived by his wife Lisa Moran-Parker, their children Lucy, Alexander, Jake, Nathan and Henry and seven grandchildren.
