Alan Parker Biography

The musical spoof of gangster films using children, including Jodie Foster, in the lead roles, as well as splatter guns, won Parker a BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay.

His second feature, 'Midnight Express', earned six Oscar nominations, including one for himself, won two, and received a BAFTA for Best Direction.

He followed this with the musical, 'Fame', his first US-produced feature, and then arguably his most personal film, 'Shoot the Moon', a detailed examination of the disintegration of a marriage.

The quirky, touching 'Birdy' and the controversial 'Angel Heart' solidified his reputation as a highly visual storyteller, whose palette made use of the soundtrack as well as strong imagery. 'Mississippi Burning', a glossy recreation of a famous civil rights murder case, was followed by farce with 'The Road to Welville', a send-up of American health fadist, John Kellogg.

In 'Pink Floyd: The Wall', he transformed a best-selling rock album into one of the great modern musicals, using animated sequences by Gerald Scarfe. 'The Commitments', for all its high energy and great soul music, fell a bit short of the mark, but 'Evita', starring Madonna, showed Parker back on top - epic, lavish and fascinating.

'Angela's Ashes' was a lachrymose adaptation of Frank McCourt's novel, while Parker showed a return to form, with the anti-death penalty 'The Life of David Gale', with Kevin Spacey.

In 2002, he was knighted in the New Year's Honours List. He received a Honorary Doctorate of Arts from the University of Sunderland in 2005 of which his long time associate Lord Puttnam is chancellor.