Sydney Pollack
Biography
Sydney Pollack was an American director, producer, and actor whose film and television career spanned more than 40 years. Born in Lafayette, Indiana, he trained as an actor with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse. He directed episodes of series including The Fugitive and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour before his feature directing debut, The Slender Thread (1965). He was nominated for Academy Awards for directing They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969) and Tootsie (1982), and Out of Africa (1985) won him the Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture. He also directed Jeremiah Johnson, The Way We Were, The Yakuza, Absence of Malice, The Firm, and Sabrina. He produced and acted in Michael Clayton (2007) and produced The Fabulous Baker Boys, Sense and Sensibility, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and The Reader. His later acting work included The Player (1992), Husbands and Wives (1992), Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Changing Lanes (2002), and Made of Honor (2008). He died in 2008.
73years old at death
- Born Lafayette
- Died Pacific Palisades
- Star sign: CancerThe sign runs June 21 to July 22
- Sydney Irwin Pollack (birth name)
Movie Career
- Films
- 15
- Career span
- 56 years1962 to 2018
Genres
- Drama67%, 10 films
- Comedy33%, 5 films
- Romance33%, 5 films
- Documentary27%, 4 films
- Mystery20%, 3 films
First and latest
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Early training
From 1952 to 1954, Pollack trained in acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre under Sanford Meisner, and between terms he worked on a lumber truck.
First role
Pollack's first feature film as an actor was War Hunt (1962), where he met Robert Redford, who later starred in seven films Pollack directed.
A first
Sydney Pollack directed twelve actors who received Oscar nominations, among them Jane Fonda, Barbra Streisand and Meryl Streep. Gig Young and Jessica Lange both won Oscars for their work in his films.
Behind the camera
With the English director Anthony Minghella, Pollack started the production company Mirage Enterprises. The Reader, the final movie they made as a team, brought each of them a posthumous Oscar nomination for Best Picture.
A first
On October 21, 2006, the Austin Film Festival gave Pollack its first annual Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking award, making him the initial recipient of that honor.
Sydney Pollack movies on Netflix
Best known for
The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.
Most often with
Six actors appear in two of them each. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Richard Jenkins's page
Dylan Baker's page
Tom Cruise's page
Kathleen Quinlan's page
Francis Ford Coppola's page
Lynne Thigpen's page
Box office
What Sydney Pollack's films earned in cinemas worldwide.
Combined worldwide box office
$787 million
9 of the 15 films have a worldwide figure.
Of the 15 films: 9 worldwide figure; 3 us gross only; 1 never in cinemas; 2 figure not found.
- 9Worldwide figure
- 3US gross only
- 1Never in cinemas
- 2Figure not found
Top grosser
Highest grossing
The eight biggest films earned 100% of the total. The bars are drawn to scale.
- 1$177M22.5% of the total
- 2$163M20.6% of the total
- 3$106M13.5% of the total
- 4$95M12.1% of the total
- 5$93M11.8% of the total
- 6$75M9.5% of the total
- 7$57M7.2% of the total
- 8$22M2.8% of the total
$34,837from the other 1 film with a worldwide figure, 0% of the total
Awards
Six awards and honors from 1966 to 1986, five of them major.
| Year | Award | Film | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards | |||
| 1986 | Best Director | Out of Africa | Won |
| 1986 | Best Picture | Out of Africa | Won |
| Golden Globes | |||
| 1985 | Best Motion Picture – Drama | Out of Africa | Won |
| Emmy Awards | |||
| 1966 | Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series | Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre | Won |
| Berlin Film Festival | |||
| 1986 | Berlinale Camera | Won | |
| Other honors | |||
| National Board of Review Award for Best Film | Won | ||
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.