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Bugsy Malone director Alan Parker dies

British film director Alan Parker, whose work included Bugsy Malone and Midnight Express, has died aged 76.

A statement from a spokeswoman on behalf of Parker’s family said he died on Friday morning.

The London-born director’s films include Fame, Evita and The Commitments, and over his career he was awarded 10 Golden Globes, 10 Oscars and 19 BAFTAs.

Born in 1944, Parker started out in advertising but in 1974 moved into long-form drama when he directed a BBC film named The Evacuees.

Parker wrote and directed his first feature film, Bugsy Malone, in 1975 – a musical pastiche of Hollywood gangster films of the 1930s that starred a cast of children.

Parker’s second film, 1977’s Midnight Express, won two Oscars, six Golden Globes and four BAFTAs.

In 1981, he directed Pink Floyd – The Wall, the feature film adaptation of the band’s successful rock album, which became a cult classic among music fans.

In November 1995 he was awarded a CBE for services to the British film industry and he received a knighthood in 2002.

Parker received the BAFTA Fellowship Award, the body’s highest honour, in 2013.

Sean Connery, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier, Vanessa Redgrave, Christopher Lee, Martin Scorsese and Mike Leigh have also been awarded the fellowship.

In 2018, Parker donated his significant private collection of scripts and working papers to the BFI National Archive.

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

-AAP

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