Celebrity Biographies
Alan J. Pakula
Death awaited on the freeway. The New Yorker Alan J. Pakula could not have suspected, when taking the car on November 19, 1999, that a tube coming from who knows where would hit the windshield. The car crashed and Pakula, the sole occupant of it, died instantly.
The director of Jewish origin was 70 years old on the day of his death. The unexpectedness of the news shocked Hollywood. Harrison Ford , who worked with him on The Devil’s Shadow , has commented, “I’ve lost a friend.”
Pakula graduated from Yale with a degree in drama. After working in animation with Warner, he turned to another type of cinema, first as a producer. Associated with Robert Mulligan , he produced a mythical film: To Kill a Mockingbird , with Gregory Peck . He made his directorial debut at the age of 34, with El cuco esterilo .
Three of Pakula’s titles touch on the theme of conspiracy in high places. The Last Witness is inspired by the Kennedy assassination; All the President’s Men , with Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman , tackles the Watergarte case; and The Pelican Brief , based on the novel by John Grisham , explores a Supreme Court scandal.
Klute , A Business Woman, and Sophie’s Choice launched the careers of Jane Fonda and Meryl Streep . Her sixteenth film, The Devil’s Shadow , is a contribution to the cinema about the IRA, where she fought two divas: Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt .