Sydney Pollack is dead

[Jeff Wexler]

I just read this news ... I didn't even know he was ill. Very sad.

(obit, in part, posted below)

By Adam Bernstein

Washington Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, May 27, 2008; Page B06

Sydney Pollack, 73, a director and producer of popular Hollywood movies for nearly four decades, including the comedy "Tootsie," and who won Academy Awards for "Out of Africa," died May 26 at his home in Los Angeles. He had cancer.

Mr. Pollack, who called himself "Mr. Mainstream," was wildly successful at moviemaking with mass appeal but drew mixed reviews during a prolific career.

His best-remembered work could be provocative, timely and sensitively crafted: "Tootsie" (1982) was hilarious and underscored aspects of the feminist struggle; the taut spy story "Three Days of the Condor" (1975) captured Nixon-era paranoia; "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" (1969), though set at a Depression-era dance marathon, resonated with young ticketbuyers who saw the rigged contest as a reflection of modern society.

-  Jeff Wexler

[donbrown]

A very sad day, I worked with Sydney on Havana with the late Peter Handford who died late last year, he was very pro-sound always willing to wait if there was a problem.

Regards

Don 

[old school]

I was working on a film in NYC and was invited to the premiere of "Out of Africa" where I met Mr Pollack. That night was one I will always cherish. He seemed like a great guy and 'O of A' is one of his better films IMO. Wish I had worked with him. I worked with his brother Bernie, a costume designer, 2 or 3 times and he is a class act, so I imagine was Sydney. I am a big fan of most his movies. As an actor, he was the best one in "Eyes Wide Shut".  RIP.

CrewC