Gordon Parks Jr. was born as Gordon Roger Parks in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, the son of photographer and filmmaker Gordon Alexander Parks and Sally Alvis. He is best remembered for the successful if controversial crime film "Super Fly" (1972). He worked as a musician and photographer, early on using the name Gordon Rogers to distinguish himself from his father. He served as a cameraman on his father's first directorial effort, "The Learning Tree" (1969), and did both still and motion picture photography for other movies including "The Godfather" (1971) before directing his own project, "Super Fly" (1972). He made several subsequent films but none were as successful as his first. He was killed in a plane crash in Nairobi, Kenya, 3 April 1979, while making a film entitled "Revenge" that was more than half-finished at the time.