Sydney Pollack, the film director, producer and actor who made the comedy 'Tootsie' and the Oscar-winning 'Out of Africa', has died. He was 73.
Mr Pollack died of cancer overnight at his home in Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles, surrounded by family. He had been diagnosed with cancer nine months ago.
The film-maker balanced box office success with critical acclaim over a half-century career, working with stars such as Robert Redford, Paul Newman, Sydney Poitier, Meryl Streep, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.
He tackled a variety of social issues and earned a worldwide reputation for an acute romantic and political sensibility that led to some of the most respected films from the late 1960s to the 1980s.
Pollack was twice nominated for an Oscar for best director, with 'They Shoot Horses Don't They?' (1969) a harrowing Depression-era drama starring Jane Fonda, and 'Tootsie' (1982), starring Dustin Hoffman as an out-of-work actor who makes his way by pretending to be a woman.
He finally won the directing and best picture Oscars with 'Out of Africa' (1985), a masterpiece that starred Streep and Redford as a Danish baroness and a big game hunter who have a love affair destined for failure in colonial Kenya.
Born on 1 July 1934 in Lafayette, Indiana, the son of a pharmacist, Pollack first had ambitions to be a dentist. But he moved to New York at age 17 and learned acting under legendary coach Sanford Meisner.
He spent several years teaching, interspersed with two years in the US army, and directed a number of television series before heading to Los Angeles where he helped create a slew of films, many of which have gone on to become classics.
They were not all successes. 'Havana' (1990), another venture with Redford, was a commercial failure, but Pollack soon returned with the box office smash 'The Firm,' an adaptation of John Grisham's thriller starring Cruise.
More recently, Pollack was an executive producer on Anthony Minghella's Oscar-nominated 'Cold Mountain' (2003) and won acclaim for his production of and acting alongside George Clooney in 'Michael Clayton' (2007), which was nominated for seven Oscars.
As an actor, he had also played memorable parts in Woody Allen's in 'Husbands and Wives' (1992), and Robert Altman's 'The Player' the same year.
He was married with three children.
