Staff
Lord Puttnam Collection
The collection of Lord Puttnam of Queensgate is part of Special Collections at the University of Sunderland.
Donated by Lord Puttnam in 2016, this unique archive comprises a range of material relating mainly to his work in the field of education. The material includes diaries, letters, speeches and articles written by Lord Puttnam from the 1980s to 2013
Lord Puttnam began his career in advertising and then turned to film production in the late 1960’s and 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.
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 in 1982), Local Hero, Memphis Belle, Meeting Venus and The Killing Fields and The Mission with Roland Joffe (which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1986). Lord Puttnam was chairman and CEO of Columbia Pictures from June 1986 until September 1987.
Lord Puttnam retired from film production in 1998 to focus on his work in public policy as it relates to education, the environment and the creative and communications industries. Lord Puttnam was the first chancellor of the University of Sunderland from 1997 until July 2007
