Born in Fort Scott, Kansas, Parks was the youngest of fifteen children. He was the son of a farmer who grew corn, beets, turnips, potatoes, collard greens, and tomatoes. They also had a few ducks, chickens, and hogs.
Years later, Parks attended a segregated elementary school. The town was too small to afford a separate high school that would facilitate segregation of the secondary school.
Also, black people were not allowed to play sports or attend school social activities, and they were discouraged from developing any aspirations for higher education.
Years afterwards, Parks related in a documentary on his life that his teacher told him that his desire to go to college would be a waste of money.
When Parks was eleven years old, three white boys threw him into the Marmaton River, knowing that he couldn't swim. However, he had the presence of mind to duck underwater so they wouldn't see him make it to land.
Three years later, Parks' mother passed when he was fourteen. He spent his last night at the family home sleeping beside his mother's coffin, seeking not only solace, but a way to face his own fear of death.
Soon after, Parks was sent to St. Paul, Minnesota to live with a sister and her husband. He and his brother-in-law argued frequently and Parks was finally turned out onto the street to fend for himself at age fifteen.
Struggling to survive, he worked in brothels, and as a singer, piano player, bus boy, traveling waiter, and semi-pro basketball player.
In 1929, Parks briefly worked in a gentlemen's club, the Minnesota Club. There, he not only observed the trappings of success, but was able to read many books from the club library.
When the Wall Street Crash of 1929 brought an end to the club, he jumped a train to Chicago, Illinois where he managed to land a job in a flophouse.
At the age of twenty-five, Parks was struck by photographs of migrant workers in a magazine. He later bought his first camera, a Voigtländer Brillant, for $7.50 at a Seattle, Washington pawnshop and taught himself how to take photos.
The photography clerks who developed Parks' first roll of film applauded his work. They then prompted him to seek a fashion assignment at a women's clothing store in St. Paul.
Those photographs later caught the eye of Marva Louis, the wife of African-American professional heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis.
She later encouraged Parks and his wife, Sally Alvis, to move to Chicago in 1940, where he began a portrait business and specialized in photographs of society women.
Parks' photographic work in Chicago, especially in capturing the myriad experiences of African-Americans across the city, led him to receive the Julius Rosenwald Fellowship in 1941.
The fellowship then paid him two hundred dollars a month, and offered him his choice of employer. This, in turn, contributed to being asked to join the Farm Security Administration, which was chronicling the nation's social conditions.
This was under the auspice of American economist, government official, and photographer Roy Stryker.
In the 1950s, Parks worked as a consultant on various Hollywood productions. He later directed a series of documentaries on black ghetto life that were commissioned by National Educational Television.
During this time, Malcolm X honored Parks when he asked him to be the godfather of his second daughter, Qubilah Shabazz.
Some years later, Parks composed, wrote, produced and directed the 1969 American Technicolor drama/coming-of-age film 'The Learning Tree'. This was Parks' film adaptation of his own 1963 semi-autobiographical fiction novel of the same name.
It was Parks’ novel that provided the foundation for his moving, sometimes didactic and stunningly photographed film debut.
'The Learning Tree' was filmed in Parks' hometown of Fort Scott, Kansas. Afterwards, Parks became Hollywood's first major African-American director.
Two years later, Parks directed the film of which he is best known. This was the 1971 American crime/action film 'Shaft'.
It was an adaptation American author and screenwriter Ernest Tidyman's 1970 mystery detective novel of the same name. For the film, Tidyman co-wrote the screenplay. On a budget of $500,000, 'Shaft' grossed $12 million at the box office.
The blaxploitation genre was one in which images of lower-class African-Americans being involved with drugs, violence and women, were exploited for commercially successful films featuring black actors, and was popular with a section of the black community.
Parks' feel for settings was confirmed by Shaft, with its portrayal of the super-cool leather-clad, black private detective hired to find the kidnapped daughter of Harlem racketeer Bumpy Jonas (Moses Gunn). In the film, Parks had an uncredited cameo as Apartment Landlord.
'Shaft' deals with themes like the Black Power movement, race, masculinity, and sexuality. It was filmed in Harlem, Greenwich Village, and Times Square within the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York.
Upon release, 'Shaft' was one of the first and most popular blaxploitation films, which "marked a turning point for this type of film, and spawned a number of sequels and knockoffs."
The film's soundtrack album, recorded by Isaac Hayes, was also a success. It won a Grammy Award for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture.
The film also won a second Grammy that Hayes shared with American R&B pianist and arranger Johnnie Allan for Best Instrumental Arrangement.
Later in 1971, Roger Ebert wrote: “Gordon Parks's "Shaft" gave us the first really convincing black private eye.”
Ebert also wrote: “The strength of Parks's movie is his willingness to let his hero fully inhabit the private-eye genre, with all of its obligatory violence, blood, obscenity, and plot gimmicks.
The weakness of "Shaft," I suspect, is that Parks is not very eager to inhabit that world along with his hero.”
The following year, 'Shaft' received an Oscar nomination for Best Music, Original Dramatic Score. However, the film did not win.
However, 'Shaft' won an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song. This occurred at the 44th Academy Awards in mid-April 1972.
Over time, the "Theme from Shaft" has since appeared on multiple Top 100 lists, including AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs. On that list, it ranked in at #38.
Upon the success of 'Shaft', Parks also directed its sequel later that same year. This was with the 1972 American blaxploitation action/crime film 'Shaft's Big Score!'. For the feature, Roundtree reprised his role as the eponymous detective.
It is the second entry in the Shaft film series, with both Parks and Tidyman reprising their roles from the first film.
The following year, British film director, writer and producer John Guillermin ('The Towering Inferno') directed the third installment of the "Shaft" series. This was with the 1973 American blaxploitation action/mystery film 'Shaft in Africa'.
Although again starring Roundtree and written by Academy Award-winning American screenwriter and producer Stirling Silliphant, Parks had nothing to do with the production. The film was also Roundtree's last reprisal of Shaft.
In the late 1980s, Parks made several films for television. Most notably, this included producing and directing and composed the music and a libretto for Martin. This was a ballet tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr.
It premiered in Washington, D.C. during 1989 and was screened the following year on national television during King's birthday in 1990 on January 15.
Also, in 1989, 'The Learning Tree' was one of the first twenty-five films selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
As of 1995, Parks has received over twenty awards, honorary degrees in literature, fine arts and humane letters.
One decade later, as an homage, Parks had a cameo appearance in African-American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor John Singleton's ('Boyz N the Hood') 2000 American action/crime comedy film 'Shaft'. It is the fourth film of the Shaft series.
The film starred Samuel L. Jackson in the title role as the namesake and nephew of the original John Shaft. Roundtree also stars, credited as Uncle John Shaft.
In the cameo scene, Parks was sitting playing chess when Jackson greeted him as, "Mr. P." Parks was actually credited as Mr. P #2, with Hayes as Mr. P. #1.
Also, in 2000, Parks' 'Shaft' was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
In 2003, Parks' 'Shaft' was chosen as one of The 1,000 Best Movies Ever Made by The New York Times.
As the first famous pioneer among black filmmakers, Parks was the first African American to produce and direct major motion pictures—developing films relating the experience of slaves and struggling black Americans, and creating the "blaxploitation" genre.
He is best remembered for his iconic photos of poor Americans during the 1940s (taken for a federal government project), for his photographic essays for Life magazine, and most notably as the director of 'Shaft'.
For many years, Parks was romantically involved with American artist, author, actress, fashion designer, railroad heiress, and socialite Gloria Vanderbilt. Their relationship eventually evolved into a deep friendship that endured throughout his lifetime.
Parks had four children. Most notably, his firstborn son would later become the American film director Gordon Parks, Jr. He would be best known for directing the 1972 American blaxploitation crime/drama film 'Super Fly'.
Parks passed from cancer while living in Manhattan, New York City, New York on March 7, 2006. He was 93. Parks is buried in his hometown of Fort Scott, Kansas.
As of 2019, 'Shaft in Africa' remains the only Shaft film series to not be directed by an African-American.
Also, that same year, African-American director, producer, and writer Tim Story made the 2019 American action/comedy crime film 'Shaft'.
Jackson again reprises his role from the previous film, made almost two decades prior. It is the fifth film in the Shaft series and a direct sequel to the 2000 film with the same title. Roundtree also co-stars, this time as John Shaft, Sr.
Today, Parks is remembered for his pioneering work in the field of photography, which has been an inspiration to many.
With significant accomplishments to his credit, Parks may well be the African-American Renaissance man par excellence.
The famed photographer once said, "People in millenniums ahead will know what we were like in the 1930s and the thing that, the important major things that shaped our history at that time. This is as important for historic reasons as any other."
Parks had been active from 1964–1987.
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