Sydney Pollack
| Sydney Pollack | |
|---|---|
 Pollack in 2006 | |
| Born |
Sydney Irwin Pollack July 1, 1934 Lafayette, Indiana, U.S. |
| Died |
May 26, 2008 (aged 73) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Cancer of unknown primary origin |
| Occupation | Actor, producer, director |
| Years active | 1950–2008 |
| Spouse(s) | Claire Bradley Griswold (m. 1958–2008) (his death) (3 children) |
| Children |
Steven Pollack (7.2.1959–26.11.1993)[1] Rebecca Pollack (b. 1963) Rachel Pollack (b. 1969) |
Sydney Irwin Pollack (July 1, 1934 – May 26, 2008) was an American film director, producer and actor. Pollack directed more than 20 films and 10 television shows, acted in over 30 films or shows, and produced over 44 films. His 1985 film Out of Africa won him Academy Awards for directing and producing; he was also nominated for Best Director Oscars for They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969) and Tootsie (1982), in the latter of which he also appeared.
Some of his other best known works include Jeremiah Johnson (1972), The Way We Were (1973), Three Days of the Condor (1975) and Absence of Malice (1981). His subsequent films included Havana (1990), The Firm (1993), Eyes Wide Shut (1999), The Interpreter (2005), and as producer for and actor in Michael Clayton (2007).
Early life
Sydney Pollack was born in Lafayette, Indiana, to a family of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine,[2] the son of Rebecca (née Miller) and David Pollack, a semi-professional boxer and pharmacist.[2] The family relocated to South Bend and his parents divorced when he was young. His mother, an alcoholic with emotional problems, died at the age of 37 while Pollack was a student.[3]
Despite earlier plans to attend college and then medical school, Pollack left Indiana for New York City soon after finishing high school at age 17.[4] Pollack studied acting with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse from 1952–54, working on a lumber truck between terms.[4]
After two years' army service, ending in 1958, he returned to the Playhouse at Meisner’s invitation to become his assistant.[5] In 1960, John Frankenheimer, a friend of Pollack, asked him to come to Los Angeles in order to work as a dialogue coach for the child actors on Frankenheimer's first big picture, The Young Savages. It was during this time that Pollack met Burt Lancaster who encouraged the young actor to try directing.[5]
Career
Pollack played a director in The Twilight Zone episode "The Trouble with Templeton" in 1961. But he found his real success in television in the 1960s by directing episodes of series, such as The Fugitive and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. After doing TV he made the jump into film with a string of movies that drew public attention. His film-directing debut was The Slender Thread (1965).[3] Over time, Pollack's films received a total of 48 Academy Award nominations, winning 11 Oscars. His first Oscar nomination was for his 1969 film They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, and his second in 1982 for Tootsie. For his 1985 film Out of Africa starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, Pollack won Academy Awards for directing and producing.
During his career, he directed 12 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Jane Fonda, Gig Young, Susannah York, Barbra Streisand, Paul Newman, Melinda Dillon, Jessica Lange, Dustin Hoffman, Teri Garr, Meryl Streep, Klaus Maria Brandauer and Holly Hunter. Only Young and Lange won Oscars for their performances in one of Pollack's films.
His disputes with Hoffman during the filming of Tootsie became well known. Eventually Hoffman began pushing the idea that Pollack play the role of his agent, and Pollack reluctantly agreed despite not having had any film roles in 20 years. Their off-screen relationship added authenticity to their scenes in the movie, most of which feature them arguing. Pollack subsequently took on more acting roles in addition to producing and directing. He appeared as himself in the documentary One Six Right, describing his joy in owning and piloting his Cessna Citation X jet aircraft.
One of a select group of non- and/or former actors awarded membership in The Actors Studio,[6] Pollack resumed acting in the 1990s with appearances in such films as The Player (1992) and Eyes Wide Shut (1999), often playing corrupt or morally conflicted power figures. As a character actor, Pollack appeared in films such as A Civil Action, and Changing Lanes, as well as his own, including Random Hearts and The Interpreter (the latter also being his final film as a director). He also appeared in Woody Allen's Husbands and Wives as a New York lawyer undergoing a midlife crisis, and in Robert Zemeckis's Death Becomes Her as an emergency room doctor. His last role was as Patrick Dempsey's father in the 2008 romantic comedy Made of Honor, which was playing in theaters at the time of his death. He was a recurring guest star on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace, playing Will Truman's (Eric McCormack) unfaithful but loving father, George Truman. In addition to earlier appearances on NBC's Just Shoot Me and Mad About You, in 2007 Pollack made guest appearances on the HBO TV series The Sopranos and Entourage.
Pollack received the first annual Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking award from the Austin Film Festival on October 21, 2006. As a producer he helped to guide many films that were successful with both critics and movie audiences, such as The Fabulous Baker Boys, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Michael Clayton, a film in which he also starred opposite George Clooney, and for which he received his sixth Academy Award nomination, in the Best Picture category. He formed a production company called Mirage Enterprises' with the English director Anthony Minghella. The last film they produced together, The Reader, earned them both posthumous Oscar nominations for Best Picture.
The moving image collection of Sydney Pollack is housed at the Academy Film Archive.[7]
Influences
In the 2002 Sight and Sound Directors' Poll, Pollack revealed his top ten films: Casablanca, Citizen Kane, The Conformist, The Godfather Part II, Grand Illusion, The Leopard, Once Upon a Time in America, Raging Bull, The Seventh Seal, and Sunset Boulevard.[8]
Personal life and death
 |
Wikinews has related news: Film director Sydney Pollack dies at age 73 |
Pollack was married to Claire Bradley Griswold, a former student of his, from 1958 until his death. His wife died on March 28, 2011 at 74 years of age, due to Parkinson's Disease. They had three children: Steven, Rachel, and Rebecca Pollack. In 1993, Steven died at 34 in the crash of a small, single-engine plane which clipped a power line and burst into flames.[9][10] Pollack's brother, Bernie, is a costume designer, producer, and actor.
Concerns about Pollack's health surfaced in 2007 when he withdrew from directing HBO's television film Recount,[11] which aired on May 25, 2008. Pollack died the next day at his home in Los Angeles, surrounded by his family who confirmed that cancer was the cause of death, but declined to provide specifics.[9][12] His body was cremated, and his ashes were scattered along the runway at the Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles.
Filmography
Directing and producing
| Year | Film | Role(s) | Academy Award wins | Academy Award nominations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 | The Slender Thread | Director | 2 | |
| 1966 | This Property Is Condemned | Director | ||
| 1968 | The Scalphunters | Director | ||
| 1969 | Castle Keep | Director | ||
| They Shoot Horses, Don't They? | Director | 1 | 9 | |
| 1972 | Jeremiah Johnson | Director | ||
| 1973 | The Way We Were | Director | 2 | 6 |
| 1974 | The Yakuza | Director, producer | ||
| 1975 | Three Days of the Condor | Director | 1 | |
| 1977 | Bobby Deerfield | Director, producer | ||
| 1979 | The Electric Horseman | Director | 1 | |
| 1981 | Absence of Malice | Director | 3 | |
| 1982 | Tootsie | Director, producer, actor | 1 | 10 |
| 1985 | Out of Africa | Director, producer | 7 | 11 |
| Sanford Meisner: The American Theatre's Best Kept Secret | Executive producer | |||
| 1988 | Bright Lights, Big City | Producer | ||
| 1989 | The Fabulous Baker Boys | Executive producer | 4 | |
| 1990 | Havana | Director | 1 | |
| Presumed Innocent | Producer | |||
| 1993 | The Firm | Director, producer | 2 | |
| Searching for Bobby Fischer | Executive producer | 1 | ||
| 1995 | Sabrina | Director, producer | 2 | |
| Sense and Sensibility | Executive producer | 1 | 7 | |
| 1998 | Sliding Doors | Producer | ||
| 1999 | Random Hearts | Director | ||
| The Talented Mr. Ripley | Executive producer | 5 | ||
| 2001 | Iris | Executive producer | 1 | 3 |
| 2002 | The Quiet American | Executive producer | 1 | |
| 2003 | Cold Mountain | Producer | 1 | 7 |
| 2005 | Sketches of Frank Gehry | Director, executive producer | ||
| The Interpreter | Director | |||
| 2006 | Breaking and Entering | Producer | ||
| 2007 | Michael Clayton | Producer, actor | 1 | 7 |
| 2008 | Recount | Executive producer | NA | NA |
| Leatherheads | Executive producer | |||
| The Reader | Producer | 1 | 5 | |
| 2011 | Margaret | Producer | – | – |
Acting
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | The Kaiser Aluminum Hour | Shuber | Episode: "The Army Game" |
| 1959 | Playhouse 90 | Andres | Episodes: "For Whom the Bell Tolls: Part 1" and "For Whom the Bell Tolls: Part 2" |
| The United States Steel Hour | Benson | Episode: "The Case of Julia Walton" | |
| Armstrong Circle Theatre | Albert Rousseau | Episode: "35 Rue Du Marche" | |
| Startime | Harry | Episode: "Something Special" | |
| 1959–1964 | Brenner | Detective Al Dunn | Episodes: "Family Man" "Good Friend" "Point of Law" |
| 1960 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Bernie Samuelson | Episode: "The Contest for Aaron Gold" |
| Twilight Zone | Arthur Willis | Episode: "The Trouble With Templeton" | |
| 1961 | Have Gun – Will Travel | Joe Culp | Episodes: "Quiet Night in Town: Part 1" and "Quiet Night in Town: Part 2" |
| The Deputy | Chuck Johnson | Episode: "Spoken in Silence" | |
| The Asphalt Jungle | Louie | Episode: "The Professor" | |
| 1961, 1962 | The New Breed | Austin Rogers/Bert Masters | Episodes: "The Compulsion to Confess" and "Walk This Street Lightly" |
| 1962 | Ben Casey | Episode: "Monument to an Aged Hunter" | |
| War Hunt | Sgt. Owen Van Horn | ||
| 1975 | Three Days of the Condor | Taxi Driver | |
| 1979 | The Electric Horseman | Man who makes pass at Alice | uncredited |
| 1982 | Tootsie | George Fields | |
| 1992 | The Player | Dick Mellon | |
| Death Becomes Her | ER Doctor | uncredited | |
| Husbands and Wives | Jack | ||
| 1994 | Frasier | Holden Thorpe | Episode: "The Candidate" |
| 1998 | Mad About You | Dr. Sydney Warren | Episode: "Cheating on Sheila" |
| A Civil Action | Al Eustis | ||
| 1999 | Eyes Wide Shut | Victor Ziegler | |
| Random Hearts | Carl Broman | ||
| 2000 | Just Shoot Me! | Sydney Pollack | Episode: "A&E Biography: Nina Van Horn" |
| King of the Hill | Grant Trimble | Voice Episode: "Transnational Amusements Presents: Peggy's Magic Sex Feet" | |
| 2000–2006 | Will & Grace | George Truman | Episodes: "Oh Dad, Poor Dad, He's Kept Me in the Closet and I'm So Sad" "Cheaters" "Cheatin' Trouble Blues" "Blanket Apology" |
| 2001 | The Majestic | Studio Executive | Voice |
| 2002 | Changing Lanes | Stephen Delano | |
| 2003 | Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin | Narrator | Voice Documentary |
| 2005 | The Interpreter | Jay Pettigrew | |
| 2005 | One Six Right: The Romance of Flying | Himself | Documentary: Van Nuys Airport. Sydney discussing his love of flying and his Citation 10 private jet. |
| 2006 | Fauteuils d'orchestre | Brian Sobinski | |
| American Masters | Narrator | Episode: "John Ford/John Wayne: The Filmmaker and the Legend" | |
| 2007 | The Sopranos | Warren Feldman | Episode: "Stage 5" |
| Michael Clayton | Marty Bach | ||
| 2008 | Made of Honor | Thomas Bailey Sr. |
References
- ↑ http://articles.latimes.com/1993-11-27/local/me-61396_1_santa-monica-apartment
- 1 2 MacNab, Geoffrey (2002-08-14). "The secret of my success?". London, UK: The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
- 1 2 McLellan, Dennis (2008-05-27). "Sydney Pollack: 1934–2008, Prolific director known for A-list casts". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
- 1 2 Macnab, Geoffrey (2008-05-28). "Sydney Pollack, film director revered by stars, dies aged 73". London, UK: The Independent. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
- 1 2 "Obituary: Sydney Pollack". London, UK: The Telegraph. 2008-05-28. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
- ↑ Garfield, David (1980). "Strasberg Takes Over: 1951–1955". A Player's Place: The Story of The Actors Studio. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc. p. 93. ISBN 0-02-542650-8.
Various directors and playwrights, including Frank Corsaro, Martin Fried, Jack Garfein, Michal V. Gazzo, Charles Gordone, Israel Horovitz, Arthur Penn, Eleanor Perry, Frank Perry, Sidney Pollack, Mark Rydell, Alan Schneider, and John Stix, have also been granted membership on the basis of their contributions to the life and work of The Actors Studio, as have certain other non-performers, such as Liska March and Carl Schaeffer.
- ↑ "Sydney Pollack Collection". Academy Film Archive.
- ↑ Sight and Sound Top Ten Poll 2002: "How the directors and critics voted: Sydney Pollack". – British Film Institute
- 1 2 Cieply, Michael (2008-05-27). "Sydney Pollack, Film Director, Is Dead at 73". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-05-26.
Sydney Pollack, a Hollywood mainstay as director, producer and sometime actor whose star-laden movies like The Way We Were, Tootsie and Out of Africa were among the most successful of the 1970s and ’80s, died Monday at home here. He was 73.
- ↑ "Film Maker's Son and Pilot Die in Crash of Small Plane". New York Times. November 28, 1993. Retrieved 2008-05-26.
The son of the film maker Sydney Pollack was one of two student pilots who was killed on Friday when a single-engine plane crashed into a two-story apartment building and burst into flames.
- ↑ Mike Clark (2008-05-26). "Remembering Sydney Pollack, an actor's director". USA Today. Retrieved 2009-02-23.
- ↑ "Actor and director Sydney Pollack dies at 73. He is survived by both daughters and six grandchildren.". Associated Press. 2008-05-26. Retrieved 2008-05-26.
External links
- Sydney Pollack at the Internet Movie Database
- Sydney Pollack discography at Discogs
- Detailed biography of Sydney Pollack
- An appreciation, Charlie Rose, May 28, 2008