Just a short one...
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 on Monday evening at his home in Los Angeles. He was 73.
New York Times
NYT link now updated.
A terrific quote from the NYT story above:
He increasingly sounded wistful notes about the disappearance of the Hollywood he knew in his prime. "The middle ground is now gone," Mr. Pollack said in a discussion with Shimon Peres in the fall 1998 issue of New Perspectives Quarterly. He added, with a nod to a fellow filmmaker: "It is not impossible to make mainstream films which are really good. Costa-Gavras once said that accidents can happen."
From Wikipedia:
Biography (snippet)
Career
Pollack studied with Sanford Meisner at The Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City from 1952 to 1954. He later taught acting there from 1954 to 1959 before embarking on his acting career. He then moved behind the camera to direct and produce. His directing career began in the 1960s with episodes of TV series such as The Fugitive and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. He won the Academy Award for Directing for Out of Africa (1985). Pollack had previously been nominated for Best Director Oscars for They Shoot Horses, Don't They? and Tootsie.
While directing Tootsie, his rows with Dustin Hoffman became well known. Eventually Hoffman began pushing the idea that Pollack play the role of his agent and Pollack reluctantly agreed. Their off-screen relationship added authenticity to their scenes in the movie, most of which feature them arguing. Pollack has since taken on more acting roles in addition to producing and directing. He appeared as himself in the Documentary One Six Right, describing his joy of owning and piloting his Citation X jet aircraft.
As a character actor, Pollack has subsequently appeared in films such as A Civil Action, Changing Lanes, and Eyes Wide Shut, as well as his own, including Random Hearts and The Interpreter. He also appeared in Woody Allen's Husbands and Wives as a New York lawyer undergoing a midlife crisis. He had a recurring guest star role on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace, playing Will Truman's (Eric McCormack) unfaithful but loving father, George Truman. In 2007, Pollack made guest appearances on the HBO TV series The Sopranos and Entourage as well as an appearance on NBC's Just Shoot Me.
Pollack received the first annual Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking award from the Austin Film Festival October 21, 2006.
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A great director... An effective and often funny actor. I'll miss him.