Mike Hodges

Born: 29th July 1932
Where: Bristol, UK

The director burst onto the scene with his seminal British gangster picture Get Carter starring Michael Caine.

An ex-Navy British serviceman, Hodges began his film career as a teleprompter writer, during which time he began to write scripts on a freelance basis.

He sold his TV play Some Will Cry Murder, and from there on wrote on a full-time basis.

In 1962 he began work as an editor on the religious TV series The Sunday Break, and his next job was as a producer and director for The World in Action for Granada television.

In 1971 Hodges directed his first feature film, Get Carter, which exposed the sordid underbelly of gangster orchestrated crime in Newcastle Upon Tyne.

Three years later Hodges produced, wrote and directed The Terminal Man, then in the early 80s switched genres to direct the comic caper Flash Gordon.

Swapping styles again, he directed Griff Rhys Jones and Mel Smith in the misfiring sci-fi comedy Morons from Outer Space.

After completing A Prayer for the Dying - abut a botched IRA bomb attack - Hodges had his name removed from the credits because he was unhappy with the finished product.

His last feature film for almost a decade was Black Rainbow and his comeback movie was the sleeper art house hit Croupier, starring Clive Owen and Alex Kingston.

Recent work includes the Get Carter-style gangster thriller I'll Sleep When I'm Dead with Owen and Malcolm McDowell.