Lawrence Kasdan

Born: January 14 1949
Where: Miami, Florida, USA

The former advertising copywriter sold the script of The Bodyguard before he made any headway in the film business.

His screenplay for Continental Divide caught the eye of Steven Spielberg and led to an introduction to George Lucas who would bring him on board for Star Wars.

As a result, Kasdan received screenplay credits on three of the most successful films in motion picture history (his first produced feature The Empire Strikes Back, the initial Indiana Jones yarn Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Return of the Jedi).

These colossal hits opened the door for Kasdan to do what he had always wanted to do - direct.

An updated version of Billy Wilder's noir classic Double Indemnity, Body Heat featured William Hurt and Kathleen Turner as the steamiest screen couple of the early 80s.

The Big Chill proved more commercially successful, but less satisfying, than his promising debut.

A group of "baby boomers" (played by, among others, Hurt, Glenn Close and Kevin Kline) spend a mournful weekend lamenting their lost innocence.

Silverado suffered from an overly complex narrative, but its real downfall was the film's condescending tone to the Western genre.

The Accidental Tourist, based on Anne Tyler's quirky best-selling novel, returned Kasdan to his original form.

Grand Canyon was an ambitious but glib attempt to address the issues of class, race and violence in LA.

A considerably worse critical reception greeted The Bodyguard, a Kevin Costner-Whitney Houston vehicle from a script Kasdan had originally written for Steve McQueen in the 70s.

Kasdan's next venture as auteur, Wyatt Earp, starring Costner in the title role, was overly long negating the good storytelling that had propelled it.

Neither the comic savvy of his stars (Meg Ryan, Kline and Timothy Hutton) nor the striking Paris scenery could save French Kiss.

He made a rare acting appearance as Dr Green in James L Brooks' As Good As It Gets and turned up as a producer for Home Fries.

He wrote and directed the amiable Mumford but seemed to lose the plot again with the all-at-sea alien shocker Dreamcatcher.