Carroll Ballard (born October 14, 1937) is a retired American film director. He has directed six feature films, including ''

The Black Stallion The Black Stallion, known as the Black or Shêtân, is the title character from author Walter Farley's bestselling series about the Arab stallion and his young owner, Alec Ramsay. The series chronicles the story of a Sheikh's prized stallion a ...

'' (1979), ''

Never Cry Wolf ''Never Cry Wolf'' is an account of the author's experience observing wolves in subarctic Canada by Farley Mowat, first published in 1963 by McClelland and Stewart. It was adapted into a film of the same name in 1983. It has been credited for dra ...

'' (1983), and ''

Fly Away Home ''Fly Away Home'' ( ''Flying Wild'' and ''Father Goose'') is a 1996 family drama film directed by Carroll Ballard. The film stars Anna Paquin, Jeff Daniels, and Dana Delany. ''Fly Away Home'' was released on September 13, 1996, by Columbia Pic ...

'' (1996).

Biography

After serving in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

, Ballard attended film school at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, where one of his classmates was

Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five A ...

. He made a well received student film called ''Waiting for May'' in 1964. His early credits include the documentaries ''Beyond This Winter's Wheat'' (1965) and ''

Harvest Harvesting is the process of gathering a ripe crop from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most labor-i ...

'' (1967), which he made for the

U.S. Information Agency The United States Information Agency (USIA), which operated from 1953 to 1999, was a United States agency devoted to " public diplomacy". In 1999, prior to the reorganization of intelligence agencies by President George W. Bush, President Bill ...

. The latter was nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

. He directed a short subject called ''The Perils of Priscilla'' (1969), which was filmed from the point of view of a cat who escapes from home. ''Rodeo'' (1970) provided an intimate look at the 1968 National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City. He shot the title sequence of Coppola's 1968 musical ''Finian's Rainbow'' and was second unit director on ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

'' (1977), for which he handled many of the outdoor desert scenes. Ballard finally got the chance to make a feature film when Coppola offered him the job of directing ''

'' (1979), an adaptation of the children's book by

Walter Farley Walter Farley (born Walter Lorimer Farley, 26 June 1915 – 16 October 1989) was an American author, primarily of horse stories for children. His first and most famous work was ''The Black Stallion'' (1941), the success of which led to many ...

. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor (Mickey Rooney). In 2002 the Library of Congress added it to the

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception i ...

. He then directed ''

'' (1983), based on

Farley Mowat Farley McGill Mowat, (May 12, 1921 – May 6, 2014) was a Canadian writer and environmentalist. His works were translated into 52 languages, and he sold more than 17 million books. He achieved fame with the publication of his books on the Can ...

's autobiographical book of the same name, which detailed Mowat's experiences with

Arctic wolves The Arctic wolf (''Canis lupus arctos''), also known as the white wolf or polar wolf, is a subspecies of grey wolf native to the High Arctic tundra of Canada's Queen Elizabeth Islands, from Melville Island to Ellesmere Island.https://ecor ...

. In the 1990s, he made two films: ''

Wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...

'' (1992) and ''

'' (1996). His most recent film is ''

Duma A duma (russian: дума) is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions. The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were for ...

'' (2005), about a

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

n boy's friendship with an orphaned

cheetah The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at with the fastest reliably recorded speeds being , and as such has evolved specialized ...

. Ballard has received acclaim from film critics. Pauline Kael was an early admirer. Kenneth Turan once wrote: " allardknows how to be both caring and restrained, minimizing a movie's saccharine content while maximizing the sense of wonder."Turan, Kenneth (2004). ''Never coming to a theater near you: a celebration of a certain kind of movie.'' New York: Public Affairs. .

Filmography

*''

'' (1979) *''

'' (1983) *'' Nutcracker: The Motion Picture'' (1986) *''

'' (1992) *''

'' (1996) *''

'' (2005)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ballard, Carroll 1937 births American film directors Living people UCLA Film School alumni