REMEMBERING GORDON PARKS
Gordon Parks, 93, a true renaissance man if
there ever was one, died in New York City on Tuesday.
Parks, born into poverty in Fort Scott, Kansas, was a photo journalist
for "Life" magazine for 20 years before turning
to film making in 1969.
His initial Hollywood project, "The Learning Tree," was adapted
from a novel he wrote about growing up poor and black
in 1920s Kansas. He became the first black to write
and direct a major studio production when Warner
Bros. commissioned him to adapt his book to the big screen.
In 1989, the film was among the first 25 to be deemed culturally
and historically significant and was preserved in the US
National Film Registry for future generations.
But as far as most people are concerned, it was the 1971 movie
"Shaft" that brought him fame as a director. Starring
Richard Roundtree, "Shaft" also spawned a hit song,
the Oscar winning "Theme From Shaft" by Isaac Hayes.
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