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The Oscar-winning director Sydney Pollack whose films include Tootsie, Out of Africa, The Way We Were and They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, died this afternoon in his Los Angeles home. The cause was cancer.
Pollack grew up in Indiana and headed to New York City when he was 17, joining The Neighborhood Playhouse and studying acting under Sanford Meisner. He acted, but, according to the NY Times obituary, Burt Lancaster told him to direct, so he did, getting his start by directing television.
Variety calls him a "prolific director, producer and actor whose films tackled a variety of social issues while garnering critical acclaim and earning boffo numbers at the box office." Besides directions (he earned an Oscar for Out of Africa), he also produced (his production company was behind Sense & Sensibility and the just-premiered HBO movie Recount) and acted--besides producing Michael Clayton, Pollack played the title character's boss; more recently, he played Patrick Dempsey's father in Made of Honor.
Below is a video of Pollack in Michael Clayton, while the video at top is from Tootsie, with Pollack as the agent of a desperate actor named Michael Dorsey who decides he needs to shake things up to get work.
George Clooney issued a statement saying, "Sydney made the world a little better, movies a little better and even dinner a little better. A tip of the hat to a class act. He'll be missed terribly."
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Sydney Pollack's passing is very sad. Tootsie is one of the best comedies ever and one of the best NYC movies ever.
Agreed, Jen.
I hate it when someone in the movie business, who brings so much to the table--acting, directing, producing--leaves us. He was one of the good guys in an industry filled with so many bad ones. Very very sad.
Good job selecting these clips, Jen. In my opinion, these are the two films that best showcase his acting skills, along with Eyes Wide Shut. He was perfectly cast in Michael Clayton: most other actors would have been bulldozed by Clooney's charisma, but Pollack withstands it.
I also loved the "Silence Your Cellphone" short he did that ran in movie theaters..
I loved Jeremiah Johnson, They Shoot Horses Don't They? and so much more of this man's work. He will be missed.
He was also excellent in Husbands and Wives, one of my favorite films ever. This is really sad.
he was a good director. But it's weird how he had like a string of hits followed by mediocre duds. Just like Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Reiner, Ivan reitman, harold ramis, and John Hughes. They all made like 3-4 awesome movies in a row and then POOF, it's like they lost the ability to make a good movie or something. That's why Kubrick and Spielberg are really amazin cause they've kept consistent throughout most of their career.