Hackford, Taylor (1944- )

US film director and producer. He is particularly known for his hard hitting, sexually-charged love stories, such as his smash hit An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), and for his rock and roll biopics, for example the Ray Charles story Ray, which earned an Academy Award nomination for Hackford and an Academy Award for best actor for its leading man, Jamie Foxx.

Other high energy love stories include Against All Odds (1984), White Nights (1985), and Everybody's All-American (1988). Music films include the Ritchie Valens biopic La Bamba (1987) and Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll ( both 1987).

He served two years in the Peace Corps before going to work for a TV station in Los Angeles, California. He began his film career making documentaries, and he won an Academy Award for his short subject film Teenage Father (1977). He co-founded New Visions Productions, which later became part of New Century Company. His first feature was The Idolmaker (1980), about a 1950s rock and roll music producer. Other films include the gang drama Bound By Honor (1993), and the thrillers Dolores Claiborne (1995), The Devil's Advocate (1997), and Proof of Life (2000). He married English actor Helen Mirren in 1997.