R.I.P: Sydney Pollack (1934 – 2008)

Less than a year since the passing of his co-producing partner Anthony Minghella, Academy Award-winning director and part-time supporting actor Sydney Pollack has passed away at the age of 73 after battling with cancer. Pollack was lucky enough to get roles in films from other high caliber directors (the Kubricks (Eyes Wide Shut), the Altmans (The Player), the Woody Allens (Husbands and Wives), but he’ll be remembered for several directing efforts that I had the chance of seeing on more than one occasion with Tootsie and Out of Africa. Among his more popular directing efforts we can dig up The Way We Were, Absence of Malice starring Sally Field and Paul Newman, The Yakuza with
Robert Mitchum, thriller Three Days of the Condor with Redford, and
another studio film that I liked with  adaptation of John Grisham’s “The Firm” with Tom Cruise.  

Most recently Pollack took on a bit role in Made of Honor (which I did not care to see) and was one among the brilliant supporting cast in Michael Clayton. His more recent directing jobs came with The Interpreter and lastly his last picture was the documentary Sketches of Frank
Gehry. Here is Pollack’s whimsical intro to taking on this project.