Alan J. Pakula
Pakula in Sweden, 1990
Born(1928-04-07)April 7, 1928
The Bronx, New York City, U.S.
DiedNovember 19, 1998(1998-11-19) (aged 70)
Melville, New York, U.S.
Occupation(s)Film director, screenwriter, producer
Years active1957–1998
Notable work
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1963; div. 1971)​
    Hannah Cohn Boorstin
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1973)​

    Alan Jay Pakula (/pəˈkuːlə/; 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, directed by Matthew Miele and featuring Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Dustin Hoffman, Kevin Kline, Harrison Ford, Robert Redford, Jane Fonda, Alan Alda, Jane Alexander, Alec Baldwin, Candice Bergen, and Carl Bernstein, among others.[1]

    Early life

    Pakula was born in The Bronx, New York, to Polish Jewish parents, Jeanette (née Goldstein) and Paul Pakula. He was educated at The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and Yale University, where he majored in drama.

    Career

    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". 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, who were played in the movie 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 another political thriller, The Pelican Brief, an adaptation of John Grisham's bestseller. His final film was the crime drama thriller film The Devil's Own, where he reunited with Harrison Ford.

    Personal life

    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.

    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.

    Death

    On November 19, 1998, Pakula was driving on the Long Island Expressway in Melville, New York, when a driver in front of him struck a metal pipe, causing it to crash through Pakula's windshield, striking 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.[4]

    Filmography

    Year Title Director Producer Writer
    1969 The Sterile Cuckoo Yes Yes No
    1971 Klute Yes Yes No
    1973 Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing Yes Yes No
    1974 The Parallax View Yes Yes No
    1976 All the President's Men Yes No No
    1978 Comes a Horseman Yes No No
    1979 Starting Over Yes Yes No
    1981 Rollover Yes No No
    1982 Sophie's Choice Yes Yes Yes
    1986 Dream Lover Yes Yes No
    1987 Orphans Yes Yes No
    1989 See You in the Morning Yes Yes Yes
    1990 Presumed Innocent Yes No Yes
    1992 Consenting Adults Yes Yes No
    1993 The Pelican Brief Yes Yes Yes
    1997 The Devil's Own Yes No No
    Producer only
    Year Title Director
    1957 Fear Strikes Out Robert Mulligan
    1962 To Kill a Mockingbird
    1963 Love with the Proper Stranger
    1965 Baby the Rain Must Fall
    Inside Daisy Clover
    1967 Up the Down Staircase
    1968 The Stalking Moon

    References

    1. ↑ Kennedy, Lisa (April 6, 2023). "'Alan Pakula: Going for Truth' Review: A Hollywood Memorial for a Friend". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 15, 2023.
    2. ↑ Canby, Vincent (October 23, 1969). "The Sterile Cuckoo (1969) Screen: 'The Sterile Cuckoo,' Old-Style TV Drama". The New York Times.
    3. ↑ "All the President's Men Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. January 1976. Retrieved November 8, 2013.
    4. ↑ Sterngold, James (November 20, 1998). "Alan J. Pakula, Film Director, Dies at 70". The New York Times. Retrieved March 17, 2009.

    Further reading

    • Brown, Jared (2005). Alan J. Pakula: His Films and His Life. New York: Back Stage Books. ISBN 0-8230-8799-9.
    Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alan J. Pakula.
    This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.