David Puttnam

David Terence Puttnam, Baron Puttnam, CBE, FRSA (born 25 February 1941) is a British film producer. He sits on the Labour benches in the House of Lords, although he is not principally a politician. Puttnam was born in Southgate, London, England, the son of Marie Beatrix, a homemaker, and Leonard Arthur Puttnam, a photographer. Educated at Minchenden Grammar School in London Puttnam had an early career in advertising (see Collett Dickenson Pearce) and as agent acting for the photographer David Bailey and Brian Duffy He turned to film production in the late 1960s, working with Sanford Lieberson's production company Goodtimes Enterprises. His successes as a film producer include Bugsy Malone, Midnight Express, The Duellists (Ridley Scott's feature film debut), Chariots of Fire (which won the Academy Award for Best Picture), Local Hero, Memphis Belle, Meeting Venus and The Killing Fields and The Mission with Roland Joffé (which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1986) mostly in association with Goldcrest. He was Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Columbia Pictures from 1986 to 1988.

Producer