Hugh Hudson (born 25 August 1936) is a British Academy Award-nominated film director.

Hudson was born in London, the eldest son of a family of affluent landowners; he was educated at Eton and Harvard University. He then embarked on a rewarding career in advertising, producing, alongside fellow British director Ridley Scott, many prizewinning adverts. This allowed him entrance to the world of film-making; his first job was as a second-unit director on Alan Parker's Midnight Express.

Catching the eye of producer David Puttnam, Hudson was put in charge of what is his now regarded as his most accomplished and well-known film, Chariots of Fire (1981), the story of two British track runners, one a devout Christian and the other an ambitious Jew, in the run-up to the 1924 Olympic Games. The film is said to have revitalized the fading British film industry, and it won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture; Hudson earned a nomination for Best Director.

After this success, Hudson's later productions were largely disappointing, including the only partially successful Greystoke - The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984), and the notorious flop Revolution (1985), which depicted the American War of Independence, and which crippled what could have been a prosperous career in Hollywood for Hudson. Instead, his film output since has been scarce and uninspiring. He currently lives in Los Angeles, and is planning to direct an adaptation of Haruki Murakami's book Norwegian Wood in the near future.

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1936 births | Living people | British film directors | Best Director Academy Award nominees | Worst Director Razzie Nominee

Hugh Hudson | Hugh Hudson