Sydney Pollack, the Academy Award-winning director of "Out of Africa" who achieved acclaim making popular, mainstream movies with A-list stars, including "The Way We Were" and "Tootsie," died Monday. He was 73.
Mr. Pollack, who also was a producer and actor, died of cancer at his home in the Pacific Palisades district of the city, according to Leslee Dart, his publicist and friend.
Beginning with "The Slender Thread," a 1965 drama starring Sidney Poitier and Anne Bancroft, Mr. Pollack was credited with directing 20 films, including "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" - a 1969 drama about Depression-era marathon dancers starring Jane Fonda that earned Mr. Pollack an Oscar nomination for best director.
Mr. Pollack directed seven movies with Robert Redford, beginning with "This Property Is Condemned" (with Natalie Wood) in 1966.
The Pollack-Redford collaboration also produced "The Way We Were" (with Barbra Streisand), "Jeremiah Johnson," "Three Days of the Condor" (with Faye Dunaway), "The Electric Horseman" (with Fonda), "Out of Africa" (with Meryl Streep) and "Havana."
As a filmmaker, Mr. Pollack had a reputation for being a painstaking craftsman - "relentless and meticulous," screenwriter and friend Robert Towne once said.
"Out of Africa," the 1985 drama based on Danish author Isak Dinesen's experiences in Kenya during the early part of the 20th century and her romance with English big-game hunter-adventurer Denys Finch Hatton, earned Mr. Pollack two Academy Awards: as director and as producer of the film, which won the best picture Oscar.
As an actor, Mr. Pollack appeared in a number of films, including Woody Allen's "Husbands and Wives," Robert Altman's "The Player," Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut" and the recent Oscar-nominated Tony Gilroy film "Michael Clayton." Mr. Pollack also turned up in guest roles on TV series such as "Frasier," "Will & Grace" and "The Sopranos."
Mr. Pollack's experience as an actor and acting teacher helped earn him a reputation as an "actor's director."
The son of a pharmacist, Mr. Pollack was born July 1, 1934, in Lafayette, Ind., and later moved with his family to South Bend.
His parents divorced while he was growing up, and his mother, who "had emotional problems and became an alcoholic," died when Mr. Pollack was 16. Although his father envisioned him becoming a dentist, Mr. Pollack left home after graduating from high school and moved to New York to become an actor.
His most recent film was a departure: "Sketches of Frank Gehry," a feature-length documentary released in 2006 about his friend, the renowned architect whose work includes the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.
He met his wife, Claire, when he was teaching and she was studying at the Neighborhood Playhouse. They were married in 1958 and had three children, Rebecca, Rachel and Steven. Steven died in a plane crash in 1993.
Mr. Pollack, who also was a producer and actor, died of cancer at his home in the Pacific Palisades district of the city, according to Leslee Dart, his publicist and friend.
Beginning with "The Slender Thread," a 1965 drama starring Sidney Poitier and Anne Bancroft, Mr. Pollack was credited with directing 20 films, including "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" - a 1969 drama about Depression-era marathon dancers starring Jane Fonda that earned Mr. Pollack an Oscar nomination for best director.
Mr. Pollack directed seven movies with Robert Redford, beginning with "This Property Is Condemned" (with Natalie Wood) in 1966.
The Pollack-Redford collaboration also produced "The Way We Were" (with Barbra Streisand), "Jeremiah Johnson," "Three Days of the Condor" (with Faye Dunaway), "The Electric Horseman" (with Fonda), "Out of Africa" (with Meryl Streep) and "Havana."
As a filmmaker, Mr. Pollack had a reputation for being a painstaking craftsman - "relentless and meticulous," screenwriter and friend Robert Towne once said.
"Out of Africa," the 1985 drama based on Danish author Isak Dinesen's experiences in Kenya during the early part of the 20th century and her romance with English big-game hunter-adventurer Denys Finch Hatton, earned Mr. Pollack two Academy Awards: as director and as producer of the film, which won the best picture Oscar.
As an actor, Mr. Pollack appeared in a number of films, including Woody Allen's "Husbands and Wives," Robert Altman's "The Player," Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut" and the recent Oscar-nominated Tony Gilroy film "Michael Clayton." Mr. Pollack also turned up in guest roles on TV series such as "Frasier," "Will & Grace" and "The Sopranos."
Mr. Pollack's experience as an actor and acting teacher helped earn him a reputation as an "actor's director."
The son of a pharmacist, Mr. Pollack was born July 1, 1934, in Lafayette, Ind., and later moved with his family to South Bend.
His parents divorced while he was growing up, and his mother, who "had emotional problems and became an alcoholic," died when Mr. Pollack was 16. Although his father envisioned him becoming a dentist, Mr. Pollack left home after graduating from high school and moved to New York to become an actor.
His most recent film was a departure: "Sketches of Frank Gehry," a feature-length documentary released in 2006 about his friend, the renowned architect whose work includes the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.
He met his wife, Claire, when he was teaching and she was studying at the Neighborhood Playhouse. They were married in 1958 and had three children, Rebecca, Rachel and Steven. Steven died in a plane crash in 1993.
2 comments:
tenho muita pena...
nem consigo descrever... parecia-me uma figura tão eterna e omnipresente...senão como realizaador ou actor como produtor executivo, qq coisa... aparecia sempre o nome dele num credit ou noutro.... Grande grande perda
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