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Taylor Hackford

An early career in television documentaries helped to shape the degree of verisimilitude that informed much of Taylor Hackford's efforts as a director and producer in Hollywood. After proving his skill with real-life subjects, he ventured into features, where he fared best with biopics - especially those based on the lives of rock 'n' roll pioneers like Ritchie Valens in "La Bamba" (1987) and Ray Charles in "Ray" (2004). "An Officer and a Gentleman" (1982) and "Against All Odds" (1984) also won many moviegoers' hearts, as did later projects like "White Nights" (1985) and "Everybody's All-American" (1988). Feature-length documentaries proved to be one of his most satisfying milieus, with "Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll" (1987) and the Muhammad Ali fight story "When We Were Kings" (1996) earning him praise from critics and viewers alike. Films like these solidified Hackford's status as a director with an uncanny knack for capturing the drama inherent in everyday lives.