- published: 18 Jan 2013
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Paul Edward Haggis (born March 10, 1953) is a Canadian director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known as screenwriter and producer for consecutive Best Picture Oscar winners, 2004's Million Dollar Baby and 2005's Crash, the latter of which he also directed.
Haggis was born in London, Ontario, the son of Mary Yvonne (née Metcalf) and Edward H. Haggis. He was raised as a Catholic, but considered himself an atheist until joining the Church of Scientology, which he later denounced as a cult. During Dan Rather's AXS TV interview, Haggis stated that he is an atheist. The Gallery Theatre in London was owned by his parents, and Haggis gained experience in the field through work at the theatre.
Haggis attended St. Thomas More Elementary School, and after being inspired by Alfred Hitchcock and Jean-Luc Godard, proceeded to study art at H. B. Beal Secondary School. After viewing Michelangelo Antonioni's 1966 film Blowup, he traveled to England with the intent of becoming a fashion photographer. Haggis later went back to Canada to pursue studies in cinematography at Fanshawe College. In 1975, Haggis moved to Los Angeles, California, to begin a career in writing in the entertainment industry.
Lawrence Wright (15 February 1888 – 19 May 1964) was a British popular music composer and publisher. He was born in Leicester and opened a music shop in the city in 1906. A short time later his first song, "Down By The Stream", was published, and by 1912 he had established the Lawrence Wright Music Co in Denmark Street, London. Wright went on to write (or co-write) over 600 songs under his own name and as Horatio Nicholls, including the World War I propaganda song "Are We Downhearted? No!", and would receive an Ivor Novello Award in 1962 for Outstanding Contribution to British Popular Music. He was one of the very rare composers of popular music in this period to make a substantial amount of money - it had not been unusual to see composers who had written dozens of hits die in poverty.
In 1927, Wright appeared in a short film made in the DeForest Phonofilm with excerpts of his revue Sensations of 1927.
His 1927 collaboration with Edgar Leslie, "Among My Souvenirs", has been covered by artists including Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Judy Garland, and Connie Francis. Wright founded Melody Maker magazine in 1926. He moved to Blackpool in the early 1920s and became a show promoter. Running "On With The Show" on the North Pier for a record-breaking 32 years (1924 - 1956). He lived in a mock castle house, later called the Castle Casino, on Blackpool's North Promenade. After he began using a wheelchair, he moved to a bungalow in Carlin Gate. Upon being recently sold, much memorabilia was discovered at the address including posters, bills, letters, sheet music and musical scores.