Gordon Parks, the legendary photographer and filmmaker best known for his "Life" magazine photo essays and landmark movies "The Learning Tree" and "Shaft," died on Tuesday in New York. He was also a gifted musician, poet, novelist, journalist and activist.

Born in Fort Scott, Kansas, Parks was orphaned by age 15 and grew up homeless. He worked a variety of menial jobs before taking up photography in the late 1930s. He joined "Life" magazine in the late 1940s and became its first black staff photographer, remaining with the publication until 1968.