Background
Puttnam was born on February 25, 1941 in Southgate, London, England, the son of Marie Beatrix, a homemaker of Jewish origin, and Leonard Arthur Puttnam, a photographer.
Puttnam was born on February 25, 1941 in Southgate, London, England, the son of Marie Beatrix, a homemaker of Jewish origin, and Leonard Arthur Puttnam, a photographer.
Educated at Minchenden Grammar School in London, Puttnam had an early career in advertising, including five formative years at Collett Dickenson Pearce, and as agent acting for the photographers David Bailey and Brian Duffy.
He turned to film production in the late 1960s, working with Sanford Lieberson's production company Goodtimes Enterprises, where he produced films such as the rock musicals That'll Be the Day (1973) and Stardust (1974), Ken Russell's Mahler (1974) and Lisztomania (1975), and Alan Parker's Bugsy Malone (1976). In 1978 he also produced Alan Parker's Midnight Express, but for the US company Casablanca Filmworks.
In 1976, he set up his own production company, Enigma Productions, through which he produced a string of films, such as 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). Many of the Enigma films made in the 1980s were done in association with the financial backer Goldcrest Films.
Puttnam was chairman and CEO of Columbia Pictures from June 1986 until September 1987.
In 1998, he retired from film production to focus on his work in education and the environment.
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In 1983, Puttnam was appointed as a Commander of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. In 1995 Puttnam was appointed as a Knight Bachelor. In 1997, Puttnam was created as a life peer and was granted Letters Patent to become Baron Puttnam, of Queensgate in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. In 1998, Puttnam was named in a list of financial donors to the British Labour Party. In 2002, he chaired the joint scrutiny committee on the Communications Bill, which recommended an amendment to prevent ownership of British terrestrial TV stations by companies with a significant share of the newspaper market. This was widely interpreted as being aimed at stopping Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation from buying channel Five. When the government opposed the amendment, Puttnam brokered a compromise – the introduction of a "public interest" test to be applied by the new regulator Ofcom, but without explicit restrictions.
From 2004 to 2005, Puttnam chaired the Hansard Society Commission on Communication of Parliamentary Democracy, the final report of which urged all political parties to commit to a renewal of parliamentary life in an attempt to reinvigorate representative democracy. In 2007, he chaired the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Draft Climate Change Bill.
Since November 2012, he has been the Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy to Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar (Burma).
In December 2012, Puttnam, who lives in Skibbereen, County Cork, was named Ireland’s Digital Champion by Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte, TD.
Lord Puttnam on 10 July 2006 at the University of Sunderland School of Computing and Technology Awards Ceremony.
In August 2014, Puttnam was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.
Puttnam was deputy Chairman of Channel 4 Television from 2006-2012. He is president of the Film Distributors' Association (FDA) and chair of the TSL Advisory Board.
Puttnam co-authored (with Neil Watson) Movies and Money, published in January 2000 by Vintage Books.
When Puttnam became the chairman of Profero, a London-based digital marketing agency in April 2007, he explained the move saying: "My experience over the past forty-odd (some very odd) years has encompassed marketing, entertainment and social issues, a fascinating mix that is integral to the daily lives of consumers and citizens. A business that can combine and magnify these dynamics can only create incredible value for their clients and, as a by-product, themselves. To me Profero is in just such a position, and it's now my job to help them realise their potential."
Puttnam, who had produced Ian Charleson's star-making film Chariots of Fire, contributed a chapter to the 1990 book, For Ian Charleson: A Tribute.
On Sunday, 19 August 2007, Puttnam gave the oration at the annual Michael Collins commemoration in Béal na Bláth, County Cork.
He has also preached at Durham Cathedral at the feast of the Cathedral's commemoration of its founders and benefactors
Married Patricia Mary (née Jones) in 1961.