While with the company in 1979, he made a disastrous personal investment of US$750,000 in "Zulu Dawn", which took him almost a decade to recover from. He learned a great deal from this setback, as the output of the company was for the most part exceptional and financially rewarding, with such other films to its credit as "The Howling", "Chariots of Fire", "Local Hero", "Gandhi", "The Killing Fields" and "The Dresser". "Chariots of Fire" and "Gandhi" won back-to-back Oscars in 1981 and 1982 respectively, and in the period from 1977 to 1983 the company's films received 30 Oscar nominations and won 15. He developed a reputation as an astute and shrewd financier. Rather than seek new talent, he chose to support established directors such as Sir Richard Attenborough, Roland Joffé, Jean-Jacques Annaud, John Boorman, many of whom have worked with him on several pictures.