David Puttnam

David Terence Puttnam Baron Puttnam CBE HonFRSA HonFRPS MRIA born 25 February 1941 is a BritishIrish film producer educator environmentalist and former member of the House of Lords His productions include Chariots of Fire which won the Academy Award for Best Picture The Mission The Killing Fields Local Hero Midnight Express and Memphis Belle In 1982 he received the BAFTA for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema and in 2006 he was awarded the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Puttnam sat on the Labour benches in the House of Lords although he was not principally a politician In 2019 he was appointed chair to the select committee on democracy and digital technologies The committee published its findings in its Digital Technology the Resurrection of Trust report in June 2020 Puttnam was born in Southgate London England the son of Marie Beatrix a housewife of Jewish origin and Leonard Arthur Puttnam a photographer Educated at Minchenden Grammar School in London Puttnam had an early career in advertising including five formative years at Collett Dickenson Pearce and as agent acting for the photographers David Bailey and Brian Duffy Puttnam turned to film production in the late 1960s working with Sanford Liebersons production company Goodtimes Enterprises The first feature he produced was Melody 1971 based on a script by Alan Parker and which was a minor hit Puttnam and Lieberson produced the documentaries Peacemaking 1919 1971 Glastonbury Fayre 1972 and Bringing It All Back Home 1972 Their second film The Pied Piper 1972 directed by Jacques Demy was not a success but Thatll Be the Day 1973 with David Essex proved a hit Puttnam and Lieberson went on to produce The Final Programme 1973 a science fiction film and made some more documentaries these being Double Headed Eagle Hitlers Rise to Power 19181933 1973 and Swastika 1974 Puttnam and Lieberson executiveproduced the Ken Russell biopic Mahler 1974 and did a sequel to Thatll Be The Day entitled Stardust 1974 and directed by Michael Apted There were more documentaries Radio Wonderful 1974 Brother Can You Spare a Dime 1975 James Dean The First American Teenager 1975 and The Memory of Justice 1976 A second film with Russell Lisztomania 1975 was a box office disaster and led to the end of the PuttnamLieberson partnership Puttnam had a box office success with Bugsy Malone 1976 a musical he executiveproduced written and directed by Alan Parker and produced by Alan Marshall It was the last film Puttnam would make under the Goodtimes banner He went on to set up a new company Enigma Films Puttnam produced The Duellists 1977 the directorial debut of Ridley Scott and with Marshall once more he produced Midnight Express 1978 directed by Parker from a script by Oliver Stone and which was a notable box office success Puttnam made his first film in America Foxes 1980 itself the directorial debut of Adrian Lyne It was a box office flop Source Article David Puttnam from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30