It's with sadness that we report today that director/actor Sydney Pollack has died at the age of 73 from cancer.
As an actor Pollack worked with a number of wonderful directors, including Robert Altman (The Player), Woody Allen (Husbands and Wives) and Stanley Kubrick (Eyes Wide Shut). But it is for his directing work that he'll will be best remembered.
Highlights of Pollack's directing career include They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, Three Days of The Condor, Yakuza and The Way We Were. And he won an Oscar for directing Out of Africa in 1986. But it will surely be the comedy Tootsie, for which he was also nominated for an Academy Award, that will prove his lasting legacy. A warm, endlessly witty and well-observed comedy starring Dustin Hoffman as an actor who disguises himself as a woman to break into the big time, it was once voted the second funniest film of all time by the American Film Institute.
Pollack is survived by his wife of 50 years, Claire Griswold, and their daughters Rachel and Rebecca.
A full obituary can be found here.