Born:
July 01, 1934
in
Lafayette, Indiana
Best Known For:
Being an acclaimed director, producer and actor.
Early-life:
Sydney Irwin Pollack was born in Lafayette, Indiana, on July 1, 1934 to David and Rebecca. Sydney moved to New York at the age of 17 and studied acting with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse from 1952 to 1954. After two years away in the US Army, he returned to the Playhouse in 1958 to become Meisner's assistant. In 1960, Sydney moved to Los Angeles to work as a dialogue coach for the child actors on John Frankenheimer's film The Young Savages. It was during this time that Burt Lancaster encouraged him to take up directing.
Career:
Pollack found work in the 1960s directing episodes of TV series such as The Fugitive and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. His film-directing debut was The Slender Thread (1965), which starred Sidney Poitier and Anne Bancroft. Pollack went on to become a hugely successful director. He won two Academy Awards for Out of Africa (1986) for Best Picture and Best Director. His other directing credits include They Shoot Horses, Don't They (1969), Three Days of the Condor (1975), Tootsie (1982), The Firm (1993) and Sabrina (1995). Pollack also had a number of acting roles and appeared in such films as Tootsie (1982), The Player (1992), Eyes Wide Shut (1999) and Michael Clayton (2007). He also made guest appearances on the TV series The Sopranos and Entourage. He died of stomach cancer on May 26, 2008 at the age of 73.
Quote:
'Movies are like your kids or your fingers and toes or something, it's pretty hard to pick favourites.'
Trivia:
Pollack's films received 48 Academy Award nominations, winning 11.