Puttnam, David

   b. 1941

   Film producer

   Formerly in advertising, commercial producer Puttnam’s first project was the Alan Parker scripted Melody (1970). Puttnam gradually assembled an ex-advertising film-making coterie, producing Ridley Scott’s The Duellists (1977), Parker’s Midnight Express (1978), Adrian Lyne’s Foxes (1979) and Hugh Hudson’s Chariots of Fire (1981). Roland Joffe’s The Killing Fields (1984) and The Mission (1986) were among other noteworthy achievements. Puttnam’s films have predominantly charted male histories, revelling in the triumph of the human spirit in adversity with well-meaning but sometimes emotionally exploitative intent. Associated with the early 1980s resurgence in British film, Puttnam has campaigned tirelessly on the industry’s behalf. A standard bearer of British arts liberalism, he was made a Labour peer in the House of Lords in 1997.

   Further reading

    Kipps, C. (1988) Out of Focus, New York: Silver Arrow Books.

   SATINDER CHOHAN