Gordon Parks

Biography: Gordon Parks is the first African-American filmmaker to work on big-budget, mainstream films. Parks, the youngest of 15 children, grew up on a struggling family farm. Before coming to films, Parks had an interesting life: He was a busboy, a piano player in a Minnesota whorehouse, a drug dealer in Harlem, and a professional basketball player; later, he became a photographer-correspondent for Life magazine for over 20 years. He lived for a while in Paris during which time he wrote two autobiographical books. He made one film based on one of those books, but did not have a hit until he made his second film, Shaft (1971). In addition to occasionally continuing to direct, Parks has written several volumes of poetry and fiction, and has also composed concert hall and film music. His son, Gordon Parks Jr., also became a director.