ACCIDENT CLAIMS MOVIEMAKER

Tuesday June 15, 1999 12:00 AM EDT

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Movie director and producer Alan Pakula, who made such hits as "To Kill a Mockingbird," "Klute," "All the President's Men" and "Sophie's Choice," was killed in a freak accident Thursday. Pakula, 70, was driving on the Long Island Expressway when a seven-foot-long metal bar on the roadway flew up and crashed through the windshield of his car, striking him on the head and causing the vehicle to swerve across a service road and hit a fence, said Suffolk County (NY) police. He was pronounced dead at 12:22 p.m. at the North Shore University Hospital. Pakula's family said he had been on his way to his home in East Hampton to work on "No Ordinary Time," a screenplay about the White House during the era of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. Pakula was nominated for an Academy award as best director for "All the President's Men" and nominated for best screenplay for "Sophie's Choice," which he also directed. His most recent film was "The Devil's Own," with Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt.