Taylor HackfordBirth Place: Santa Barbara, California, USA Date of Birth: December 31, 1944 Heritage: American Famous for: Producer of 'Against All Odds' (1984) Contact Taylor Hackford | 
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Director of Ray Background: American film director and producer Taylor Hackford is celebrated as the director and producer of the successful biopic “Ray” (2004), starring Jamie Foxx. He gained a Grammy Award and two Academy Award nominations for his work on the film. He also directed such hits as “An Officer and a Gentleman” (1982), “Against All Odds” (1984, also a producer), “Dolores Claiborne” (1995, also a producer) and “The Devil's Advocate” (1997, also a producer). Hackford won an Academy Award for his short film “Teenage Father” (1978). In addition, he received a 1983 ShoWest Award for Director of the Year, the Film Society Award for Lifetime Achievement in Directing at the 2005 San Francisco International Film Festival, and the Robert B. Aldrich Achievement Award at the 2007 Directors Guild of America, which he shared with Paris Barclay. In July 2009, he was named the president of the Director's Guild. Hackford is married to Academy Award winning actress Helen Mirren. He has two sons from previous marriages.
Childhood and Family: Taylor Edwin Hackford was born on December 31, 1944, in Santa Barbara, California, to Joseph and Mary Hackford. His parents later divorced. After graduating from Santa Barbara High School, he attended the University of Southern California, where he was a pre-law major focusing on international relations and economics. After earning his B.A. in 1968, Taylor volunteered in Bolivia as part of the Peace Corps. It was during this period that he began experimenting with a Super-8 camera. He then gave up his ambitions to pursue a career in law in favor of a mailroom job at the Los Angeles public television station KCET-TV. He later became a director, producer and writer. Taylor has been married three times. His first marriage to Georgie Lowres produced one son, Rio D Hackford (born on June 28, 1970). He married director Lynne Littman (born June 26, 1941) on May 7, 1977, and they welcomed a son, Alexander Littman Hackford, on May 15, 1979. The couple later divorced. Taylor married his present wife, British actress Helen Mirren (born July 26, 1945), on December 31, 1997. Prior to the wedding, the couple, who first met at the audition for “White Nights,” had lived together in Los Angeles.
Career: Starting out as a mailroom clerk at KCET-TV, Taylor Hackford moved up to the station's cultural programming department, where he worked on rock music performances from musicians like Cat Stevens, Bonnie Raitt, and Leon Russell. He went on to serve as an investigative reporter at the station's news division and later won awards for his work. Hackford eventually entered the world of directing with the documentary “Bukowski” (1973). The film, which he also produced and wrote, brought the aspiring director praise and the same year, he also directed Richard Beebe, David L. Lander and Michael McKean in the TV comedy “Economic Love-In.” Hackford's huge breakthrough came in 1978 when he wrote and directed the 25 minute film “Teenage Father,” starring Timothy Wead. The film earned him an Academy Award for Best Short Film, Live Action. Hackford made his feature directing debut with the musical “The Idolmaker” (1980), starring Ray Sharkey, Peter Gallagher, Paul Land, Tovah Feldshuh and Joe Pantoliano. Based on the life of rock promoter and manager Bob Marcucci, the film was nominated for a Golden Globe in the category of Best Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy and won the award for Best Motion Picture Actor - Musical/Comedy for Sharkey's performance as songwriter/manager Vincent Vacari. Hackford returned to the director's chair for the 1982 hit drama “An Officer and a Gentleman,” starring Richard Gere, Debra Winger, Louis Gossett, Jr., David Keith, Robert Loggia and Tony Plana. The film was a big success at the box office and grossed $3,304,679 in its opening weekend and $129,795,554 overall at the domestic box office, making it the third highest grossing film of 1982. Also a critical success, “An Officer and a Gentleman” won two out of six Oscar nominations for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Louis Gossett Jr.) and Best Music, Original Song. The film was also nominated for eight Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture - Drama, and won a BAFTA Award for Best Original Song. Hackford was nominated for a Directors Guild of America for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures. In 1984, Hackford gained further success with his next film, “Against All Odds,” which marked his feature producing debut. A remake of the Jacques Tourneur 1947 film “Out of the Past,” “Against All Odds” was nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song for the title song, which was performed and written by Phil Collins. It also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song - Motion Picture and a Grammy nomination for Best Album of Instrumental Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Special. Next up for Hackford, he directed and produced “White Nights” (1985), a dramatic film starring Mikhail Baryshnikov, Gregory Hines, Jerzy Skolimowski, Helen Mirren and Isabella Rossellini. It won an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song for Lionel Richie's song “Say You, Say Me” and a Golden Globe in the same category. Two years later, Hackford directed the documentary “Chuck Berry Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll,” chronicling two 1986 concerts celebrating rock and roll musician Chuck Berry's 60th birthday, and produced the biographical movie “La Bamba,” which was written and directed by Luis Valdez. In 1988, Hackford directed and produced “Everybody's All-American,” a film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Frank Deford. It starred Jessica Lange, Dennis Quaid, Timothy Hutton and John Goodman. It was also that year that Hackford merged his company, New Visions Inc., which he formed in association with entertainment lawyer Stuart Benjamin, with New Century Entertainment to create the New Century/New Visions Company. He closed out the decade with a stint as executive producer on the Robert Wide directed film “Rooftops” (1989). In the early 1990s, Hackford served as executive producer of such films as “The Long Walk Home” (1990), a drama directed by Richard Pearce that starred Sissy Spacek, Whoopi Goldberg and Dwight Schultz, “Queens Logic” (1991), a dramatic comedy directed by Steve Rash that starred Kevin Bacon, Linda Fiorentino and John Malkovich, and “Mortal Thoughts” (1991), a thriller directed by Alan Rudolph that starred Demi Moore, Glenne Headly and Bruce Willis. He also executive produced “Sweet Talker” (1991), a comedy directed by Michael Jenkins that starred Bryan Brown, Karen Allen and Justin Rosniak, and “Defenseless” (1991), a thriller directed by Martin Campbell that starred Barbara Hershey, Sam Shepard and Mary Beth Hurt. He also produced the music documentary special “Rick Nelson: It's All Right Now” (1990) for The Nashville Network. After New Visions Pictures faded out in 1991, Hackford decided to concentrate on directing. In 1993, he directed Damian Chapa, Jesse Borrego, Benjamin Bratt and Enrique Castillo in the film “Blood In, Blood Out.” The film earned him a Best Director Award at the 1993 Tokyo International Film Festival. Two years later, he directed and produced the dramatic film “Dolores Claiborne,” which was adapted from a novel by Stephen King. Starring Kathy Bates and Jennifer Jason Leigh, the film grossed $24,361,867 domestically and $22,000,000 overseas. After producing the documentary “When We Were Kings” (1996), Hackford directed Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino and Charlize Theron in “The Devil's Advocate” (1997), a film adaptation of a novel by Andrew Neiderman. The film was well received by critics and won a Saturn for Best Horror Film. It opened at No.2 at the U.S. box office. In 1999, he produced the British film “G:MT Greenwich Mean Time,” which was directed by John Strickland and starred Steve John Shepherd, Ben Waters, Alec Newman and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Entering the new millennium, Hackford directed and produced “Proof of Life” (2000), a film starring Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe. The film did not go over well with critics and Hackford did not make a return until 2004 when he directed and produced the successful biopic “Ray,” which was about musician Ray Charles. Starring Jamie Foxx, the film received primarily favorable reviews from critics and won Oscars for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Foxx) and Best Achievement in Sound Mixing. For his effort, Hackford picked up Oscar nominations for Best Achievement in Directing and Best Motion Picture of the Year, a Critics Choice nomination for Best Director at the 2005 Broadcast Film Critics Association, a David di Donatello nomination for Best Foreign Film, a DGA nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures, and a Golden Satellite nomination for Best Director. He also shared a Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. Also in 2004, Hackford served as executive producer for the TV special “Genius: A Night for Ray Charles.” In 2005, Hackford executive produced the TV series “E-Ring.” He resurfaced five years later when he directed and produced “Love Ranch” (2010), which starred his wife, Helen Mirren, and Joe Pesci. Hackford is the director and producer of the upcoming thriller “Parker,” starring Jason Statham. The film is set to be released in 2012.
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