NOTEWORTHY DEATHS

Award-winning director Parker dies at 76

August 1, 2020 at 3:25 a.m.

by The Associated Press

FILE - British actor Jonathan Pryce, from left, American actress-singer Madonna and Spanish actor Antonio Banderas appear at e news conference about the musical film "Evita" with British director Alan Parker in Buenos Aires on Feb. 6, 1996. Parker, whose movies included “Bugsy Malone,” “Midnight Express” and “Evita,” has died at the age of 76. A statement from the director’s family says Parker died Friday in London after a long illness. (AP Photo/Daniel Muzio, File)
FILE - British actor Jonathan Pryce, from left, American actress-singer Madonna and Spanish actor Antonio Banderas appear at e news conference about the musical film "Evita" with British director Alan Parker in Buenos Aires on Feb. 6, 1996. Parker, whose movies included “Bugsy Malone,” “Midnight Express” and “Evita,” has died at the age of 76. A statement from the director’s family says Parker died Friday in London after a long illness. (AP Photo/Daniel Muzio, File)

LONDON -- Alan Parker, a successful and sometimes surprising filmmaker whose diverse output includes "Bugsy Malone," "Midnight Express," and "Evita," has died at 76, his family said.

A Briton who became a Hollywood heavyweight, Parker also directed "Fame," "The Commitments" and "Mississippi Burning." Together his movies won 10 Academy Awards and 19 British Academy Film Awards.

The director's family said he died Friday in London after a long illness.

Parker was born in London in 1944 and, like many other aspiring British directors of his generation, including Ridley Scott and Adrian Lyne, began his career in advertising as a copywriter and director of commercials.

He moved into television with the critically acclaimed 1974 drama "The Evacuees," which won an international Emmy Award.

The next year he wrote and directed his first feature, "Bugsy Malone," an unusual, exuberant musical pastiche of gangster films with a cast of children, including a young Jodie Foster.

He followed that with 1978 feature "Midnight Express," the reality-based story of an American's harrowing incarceration in a Turkish prison for alleged drug offenses. It won two Oscars -- including one for Oliver Stone's script -- and gained Parker the first of two best-director nominations.

Parker ranged widely across subjects and genres. While "Shoot the Moon" (1982) and "Angela's Ashes" (1999) were family dramas, "Angel Heart" (1987) was an occult thriller and "Mississippi Burning" (1988) was a powerful civil-rights drama that was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including best director.

Parker was also a notable director of musicals, a genre he embraced and expanded. "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) charted the ups and downs of a ramshackle Dublin soul band; and "Evita" (1996) cast Madonna as Argentine first lady Eva Peron in a big-screen version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical. His final film was the death-row drama "The Life of David Gale" in 2003.

Parker is survived by his wife Lisa Moran-Parker; children Lucy, Alexander, Jake, Nathan and Henry; and seven grandchildren.

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 film "Midnight Express" at the 31st International Film Festival on May, 18, 1978. Parker, whose movies included “Bugsy Malone,” “Midnight Express” and “Evita,” has died at the age of 76. A statement from the director’s family says Parker died Friday in London after a long illness. (AP Photo, File)
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 film "Midnight Express" at the 31st International Film Festival on May, 18, 1978. Parker, whose movies included “Bugsy Malone,” “Midnight Express” and “Evita,” has died at the age of 76. A statement from the director’s family says Parker died Friday in London after a long illness. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Actress-singer Madonna arrives for a news conference about the musical film "Evita" with British director Alan Parker in Buenos Aires on Feb.6, 1996. Parker, whose movies included “Bugsy Malone,” “Midnight Express” and “Evita,” has died at the age of 76. A statement from the director’s family says Parker died Friday in London after a long illness. (AP Photo/Daniel Muzio, File)
FILE - Actress-singer Madonna arrives for a news conference about the musical film "Evita" with British director Alan Parker in Buenos Aires on Feb.6, 1996. Parker, whose movies included “Bugsy Malone,” “Midnight Express” and “Evita,” has died at the age of 76. A statement from the director’s family says Parker died Friday in London after a long illness. (AP Photo/Daniel Muzio, File)
FILE - Film director Alan Parker arrives at the opening ceremony of 26th Moscow International Film Festival in Moscow on June 18, 2004. Parker, whose movies included “Bugsy Malone,” “Midnight Express” and “Evita,” has died at the age of 76. A statement from the director’s family says Parker died Friday in London after a long illness. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze, File)
FILE - Film director Alan Parker arrives at the opening ceremony of 26th Moscow International Film Festival in Moscow on June 18, 2004. Parker, whose movies included “Bugsy Malone,” “Midnight Express” and “Evita,” has died at the age of 76. A statement from the director’s family says Parker died Friday in London after a long illness. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze, File)
FILE - Director Alan Parker and his wife, Lisa arrive for the BAFTA Film Awards in London on Feb. 10, 2013. Parker, whose movies included “Bugsy Malone,” “Midnight Express” and “Evita,” has died at the age of 76. A statement from the director’s family says Parker died Friday in London after a long illness. (Photo by Jon Furniss/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - Director Alan Parker and his wife, Lisa arrive for the BAFTA Film Awards in London on Feb. 10, 2013. Parker, whose movies included “Bugsy Malone,” “Midnight Express” and “Evita,” has died at the age of 76. A statement from the director’s family says Parker died Friday in London after a long illness. (Photo by Jon Furniss/Invision/AP, File)

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