American film director, writer, and producer (1928-1998)
Alan J. Pakula
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Pakula in 1990
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Born
| (
1928-04-07
)
April 7, 1928
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Died
| November 19, 1998
(1998-11-19)
(aged 70)
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Occupation(s)
| Film director, screenwriter, producer
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Years active
| 1957?1998
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Notable work
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Spouses
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(
m.
1963;
div.
1971)
Hannah Cohn Boorstin
(
m.
1973)
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Alan Jay Pakula
(
; April 7, 1928 ? November 19, 1998) was an American film director, writer, and producer. He was nominated for three Academy Awards:
Best Picture
for
To Kill a Mockingbird
(1962),
Best Director
for
All the President's Men
(1976), and
Best Adapted Screenplay
for
Sophie's Choice
(1982).
Pakula was also notable for directing his "paranoia trilogy":
Klute
(1971),
The Parallax View
(1974) and
All the President's Men
(1976). He is the subject of the 2023 documentary,
Alan Pakula: Going for Truth
.
[1]
Early life
[
edit
]
Pakula was born in
The Bronx
, New York, to Polish Jewish parents, Jeanette (nee Goldstein) and Paul Pakula. He was educated at
The Hill School
in
Pottstown, Pennsylvania
, and
Yale University
, where he majored in drama.
Career
[
edit
]
Pakula started his Hollywood career as an assistant in the
cartoon
department at
Warner Bros.
In 1957, he undertook his first production role for
Paramount Pictures
. In 1962, he produced
To Kill a Mockingbird
, for which he was nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Picture
. Pakula had a successful professional relationship as the producer of movies directed by
Mockingbird
director
Robert Mulligan
from 1957 to 1968. In 1969, he directed his first feature,
The Sterile Cuckoo
, starring
Liza Minnelli
.
[2]
In 1971, Pakula released the first installment of what would informally come to be known as his "
paranoia
trilogy."
[
citation needed
]
Klute
, the story of a relationship between a private eye (played by
Donald Sutherland
) and a call girl (played by
Jane Fonda
, who won an
Oscar
for her performance), was a commercial and critical success. This was followed in 1974 by
The Parallax View
starring
Warren Beatty
, a labyrinthine post-
Watergate
thriller involving political assassinations. The film has been noted for its experimental use of hypnotic imagery in a celebrated film-within-a-film sequence in which the protagonist is inducted into the Parallax Corporation, whose main, although secret, enterprise is domestic terrorism.
Finally, in 1976, Pakula rounded out the "trilogy" with
All the President's Men
, based on the bestselling account of the Watergate scandal written by
Bob Woodward
and
Carl Bernstein
, played by
Robert Redford
and
Dustin Hoffman
, respectively. It was another commercial hit, considered by many critics and fans to be one of the best thrillers of the 1970s.
[3]
Pakula scored another hit in 1982 with
Sophie's Choice
, starring
Meryl Streep
. His screenplay, based on the novel by
William Styron
, was nominated for an Academy Award. Later commercial successes included
Presumed Innocent
, based on the bestselling novel by
Scott Turow
, and
The Pelican Brief
, an adaptation of
John Grisham
's bestseller. His final film was the crime thriller
The Devil's Own
, where he reunited with
Harrison Ford
.
Personal life
[
edit
]
From October 19, 1963, until 1971, Pakula was married to actress
Hope Lange
. He was married to his second wife, author Hannah Pakula (formerly Hannah Cohn Boorstin) from 1973 until his death in 1998.
[4]
He had two stepchildren from his marriage with Hope Lange, Christopher and Patricia Murray, and three stepchildren from his second marriage. They are Louis, Robert, and Anna Boorstin. He also spoke very openly about his stepson's battle with depression before his death.
[5]
Death
[
edit
]
On November 19, 1998, Pakula was driving on the
Long Island Expressway
in
Melville, New York
, when a driver in front of him hit a metal pipe, causing it to crash through his windshield and strike him in the head. His car swerved off the road and into a fence. He was taken to
North Shore University Hospital
, where he was pronounced dead.
[6]
Filmography
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Kennedy, Lisa (2023-04-06).
"
'Alan Pakula: Going for Truth' Review: A Hollywood Memorial for a Friend"
.
The New York Times
.
ISSN
0362-4331
. Retrieved
2023-09-15
.
- ^
Canby, Vincent
(October 23, 1969).
"The Sterile Cuckoo (1969) Screen: 'The Sterile Cuckoo,' Old-Style TV Drama"
.
The New York Times
.
- ^
"All the President's Men Movie Reviews, Pictures"
.
Rotten Tomatoes
. January 1976
. Retrieved
November 8,
2013
.
- ^
Sterngold, James (1998-11-20).
"Alan J. Pakula, Film Director, Dies at 70"
.
The New York Times
.
ISSN
0362-4331
. Retrieved
2024-01-28
.
- ^
Bumiller, Elisabeth (1998-05-13).
"PUBLIC LIVES; A Filmmaker's Family Faces Mental Illness"
.
The New York Times
.
ISSN
0362-4331
. Retrieved
2024-01-28
.
- ^
Sterngold, James (November 20, 1998).
"Alan J. Pakula, Film Director, Dies at 70"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
March 17,
2009
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Brown, Jared (2005).
Alan J. Pakula: His Films and His Life
. New York: Back Stage Books.
ISBN
0-8230-8799-9
.
External links
[
edit
]
Awards for Alan J. Pakula
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1945?1975
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1976?2000
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2001?present
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1935?1950
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1951?1975
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1976?2000
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2001?present
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1946?1975
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1976?2000
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2001?present
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International
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National
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Academics
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Artists
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People
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Other
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