Taylor Hackford has directed some of the biggest films over the past 40 years. In 1979, he won an Academy Award for his short film “Teenage Father.” His second film, 1982’s “An Officer and a Gentleman,” was another Oscar-nominated blockbuster. Hackford also directed the 1980s megahit “Against All Odds” and the Ray Charles biopic “Ray.” He won two Grammy Awards for the “Ray” soundtrack. Hackford was also the president of the Director’s Guild.
In 2016, Hackford told DGA Quarterly Magazine that he majored in international relations at the University of Southern California before joining the Peace Corps. His interest in film was sparked when he got a mailroom job at a PBS station in Los Angeles and began doing on-camera reporting. “I was there for several years, won a few awards for investigative journalism,” he told The Hollywood Interview. “Then I did a short film called ‘Teenage Father,’ which was an educational film for high school kids. And it wound up getting the Oscar for Best Short Film.” Hackford said he then scored an agent and began regularly working in Hollywood.
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Before meeting Mirren, Hackford had two earlier marriages, each of which produced sons. In 1970, he welcomed his son Rio with his first wife, Georgie Lowres. He also shared a son, Alex, with his second wife, Lynne Littman. While Mirren herself never wanted children, she embraced her stepsons. “I have to say that the thing I loved most about Taylor was his absolute, total commitment to his children,” she told AARP The Magazine in 2006. Hackford’s eldest son, Rio, died in April 2022 at age 51 from a rare form of melanoma, per The Hollywood Reporter.
