Alan Parker

Sir Alan William Parker, CBE (born 14 February 1944) is an English film director, producer and screenwriter. Parker's early career, beginning in his late teens, was spent as a copywriter and director of television advertisements. After about ten years of filming adverts, many of which won awards for creativity, he began screenwriting and directing films.

Parker is noted for having a wide range of filmmaking styles and working in differing genres. He has directed musicals, including Bugsy Malone (1976), Fame (1980), Pink Floyd – The Wall (1982), The Commitments (1991), and Evita (1996); true-story dramas, including Midnight Express (1978), Mississippi Burning (1988), Come See the Paradise (1990), and Angela's Ashes (1999); family dramas, including Shoot the Moon (1982), and horrors and thrillers including Angel Heart (1987), and The Life of David Gale (2003).

His films have won nineteen BAFTA awards, ten Golden Globes and ten Academy Awards. Parker was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his services to the British film industry and knighted as a Knight Bachelor in 2002. He has been active in both the British cinema and American cinema, along with being a founding member of the Directors Guild of Great Britain and lecturing at various film schools. In 2013 he received the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, the highest honour the British Film Academy can give a filmmaker. Parker donated his personal archive to the British Film Institute's National Archive in 2015.

Alan Parker (businessman)

Alan M. Parker (born 31 March 1939) is a British billionaire businessman.

Early life

Alan M. Parker was born into a modest family in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), the son of a British colonial civil servant.

Career

Parker trained as an accountant, and worked for the Hong Kong-based DFS Group. He became DFS's third largest shareholder, and in 1997 when it was taken over by LVMH, Parker received about $840m (£464m) for his 20% stake. Parker also made money investing in hedge funds and high techechology.

As of 2014, Parker is living in Geneva, Switzerland and has a net worth of £2.34 billion.

Philanthropy

Parker is known for his philanthropy through his Oak Foundation, which helps humanitarian projects in Africa, medical research and victims of torture. His wife Jette sponsors The Royal Opera's Jette Parker Young Artists Programme.

Personal life

He is married to Jette Parker, and they have three children, Caroline, Natalie and Kristian.

References

Alan Parker (radio show)

Alan Parker was a short radio series broadcast in February–March 1995. There were 6 hour-long episodes that were broadcast on BBC Radio 1. It starred Simon Munnery as Alan Parker, a left-wing character (not to be confused with the director of the same name).

It was followed the next year by a sequel, Alan Parker, Road Warrior, also of 6 one-hour episodes, aired in April–May 1996 on Radio 1. Munnery again starred in the title role.

The shows allowed Munnery to reprise his character "Alan Parker, Urban Warrior" who had previously included music clips in half-hour shows entitled 29 Minutes of Truth. The one-hour shows featured music tracks played in full. Critics found them weaker than the original shorter shows.

References