Sydney Irwin Pollack (July 1, 1934 – May 26, 2008) was an American film director, producer, and actor. Pollack is known for directing commercially and critically acclaimed studio films. During his 40-year career, he received numerous accolades, including twoAcademy Awards and twoPrimetime Emmy Awards, in addition to nominations for threeGolden Globe Awards and sixBAFTA Awards.
Pollack was born inLafayette, Indiana, to a family ofJewish immigrants, the son of Rebecca (née Miller) and David Pollack, a semi-professional boxer and pharmacist.[2] The family relocated toSouth Bend, and his parents divorced when he was young. His mother, who suffered from alcoholism and emotional problems, died at age 37, when Pollack was 16.[2][3]
Despite earlier plans to attend college and then medical school, Pollack left Indiana for New York City soon after finishing high school at 17.[4] From 1952 to 1954 he studied acting withSanford Meisner at theNeighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, working on a lumber truck between terms.[4]
Pollack was drafted for two years' army service as a truck driver atFort Carson, Colorado,[5] ending in 1958. He returned to the Playhouse at Meisner's invitation to become his assistant.[6] In 1960,John Frankenheimer, a friend of Pollack's, asked him to work in Los Angeles as a dialogue coach for the child actors in Frankenheimer's first big movie,The Young Savages. During this time Pollack metBurt Lancaster, who encouraged him to try directing.[6]
Pollack received the first annual Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking award from theAustin Film Festival on October 21, 2006. As a producer he helped guide many films that were successful with both critics and audiences, such asThe Fabulous Baker Boys,The Talented Mr. Ripley, andMichael Clayton, a film in which he also starred and for which he received his sixth Academy Award nomination, in theBest Picture category. Pollack and the English directorAnthony Minghella formed the production companyMirage Enterprises. The last film they produced together,The Reader, earned them both posthumous Oscar nominations for Best Picture. Pollack was also nominated for five Primetime Emmys, earning two: one for directing in 1966 and another for producing, which was given four months after his death in 2008.
The moving image collection of Sydney Pollack is housed at the Academy Film Archive.[10]
Pollack was married to Claire Bradley Griswold, a former student of his, from 1958 until his death in 2008. They had three children.[12]
Concerns about Pollack's health surfaced in 2007, when he withdrew from directing HBO's television filmRecount, which aired on May 25, 2008.[13] He died from cancer the next day at his home in Los Angeles'sPacific Palisades neighborhood, aged 73.[12] He had been diagnosed about ten months before his death; the type of cancer has been variously cited aspancreatic,[14]stomach,[15] orof unknown primary origin.[16]
^Thompson, Anne (April 17, 1986). "Filmex: Will Jerry Weintraub save it or destroy it?".LA Weekly. pp. 38–39.
^Garfield, David (1980). "Strasberg Takes Over: 1951–1955".A Player's Place: The Story of The Actors Studio. New York: MacMillan. p. 93.ISBN978-0-0254-2650-4.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.
