Sydney Pollack is dead

Posted on May 27, 2008
Filed Under Actors, Directors

73-year-old Sydney Pollack, who won an Academy Award as best director for “Out of Africa,” died of cancer Monday afternoon at his home in Pacific Palisades. Sydney made a name for himself both behind the camera and on the screen in a career spanning five decades.

As a director he won acclaim for helming such films as “Out of Africa,” “Tootsie,” “Three Days of the Condor,” “Absence of Malice,” “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?,” “The Firm,” and ”The Way We Were.”

He also served as producer on such films as “Leatherheads,” “Cold Mountain,” “The Quiet American,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” “Sliding Doors,” “Sense and Sensibility,” “The Fabulous Baker Boys” and many, many more.

His on-screen career was just as prolific with key supporting roles in many of the films he directed, along with appearances in “Michael Clayton,” “Eyes Wide Shut,” “Husbands and Wives,” ”The Player,” and “Made of Honor“.

“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,” said George Clooney, who appeared alongside Pollack in the 2007 film “Michael Clayton.”

Pollack died only hours after the Sunday night premiere of the HBO film “Recount,” which he executive produced. Pollack also was to have directed the movie about the 2000 presidential election, but pulled out in August because of his health.

You will be missed Sydney.

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