Pollack, Sydney

International Dictionary of Film and Filmmakers, (2000) by Patricia Erens, John McCarty

POLLACK, Sydney

Nationality: American. Born: Lafayette, Indiana, 1 July 1934. Education: South Bend Central High School; studied with Sanford Meisner, Neighborhood Playhouse, New York. Military Service: U.S. Army, 1957–59. Family: Married Claire Griswold, 1958, three children. Career: Actor on Broadway and for TV, also acting instructor, from 1955; TV director in Los Angeles, from 1960; directed first film, 1965; also produced his own films, from 1975. Awards: Emmy Award for The Game , 1966; Oscars for Best Film and Best Direction, for Out of Africa , 1986.

Sydney Pollack

Films as Director:

1965

The Slender Thread

1966

This Property Is Condemned

1968

The Swimmer (Perry) (d one sequence only); The Scalphunters

1969

Castle Keep ; They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

1972

Jeremiah Johnson

1973

The Way We Were

1975

Three Days of the Condor ; The Yakuza ( Brotherhood of the Yakuza ) ( pr)

1976

Bobby Deerfield ( pr)

1979

The Electric Horseman

1981

Absence of Malice ( pr)

1982

Tootsie ( co-pr, role as George Fields)

1985

Out of Africa ( pr)

1990

Havana ( co-pr)

1993

The Firm ( pr)

1995

Sabrina ( pr)

1999

Random Hearts ( pr, role)

Other Films:

1961

The Young Savages (Frankenheimer) (dialogue coach)

1962

War Hunt (Sanders) (role as Sergeant Van Horn)

1963

Il gattopardo ( The Leopard ) (Visconti) (supervisor of dubbed American version)

1973

Scarecrow (Schatzberg) (pr)

1980

Honeysuckle Rose (Schatzberg) (exec pr)

1984

Songwriter (Rudolph) (pr); Sanford Meisner—The Theater's Best Kept Secret (doc) (exec pr)

1988

Bright Lights, Big City (Bridges) (pr)

1990

Presumed Innocent (Pakula) (pr); White Palace (Mandoki) (exec pr)

1992

The Player (Altman) (role); Death Becomes Her (role); Husbands and Wives (Allen) (role)

1993

Flesh and Bone (Kloves) (exec pr); Sense and Sensibility (Lee) (exec pr)

1998

Bronx County (Carter—for TV) (exec pr); Sliding Doors (Howitt) (pr); Poodle Springs (B. Rafelson—for TV) (exec pr); A Civil Action (Zaillian) (role)

1999

The Talented Mr. Ripley (Minghella) (exec pr); Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick) (role)

2000

Up at the Villa (Haas) (exec pr)

2001

The Quiet American (Noyce) (pr)

Publications

By POLLACK: book—

Out of Africa: The Shooting Script , with Kurt Luedke, New York, 1987.

By POLLACK: articles—

Interview with G. Langlois, in Cinéma (Paris), July/August 1972.

"Nos Plus Belles Années," an interview with Max Tessier, in Ecran (Paris), April 1974.

Interview with L. Salvato, in Millimeter (New York), June 1975.

"Sydney Pollack: The Way We Are," an interview with Patricia Erens, in Film Comment (New York), September/October 1975.

"Dialogue on Film: Sydney Pollack," in American Film (Washington, D.C.), April 1978.

"Sydney Pollack, An Actor's Director," an interview with P. Childs, in Millimeter (New York), December 1979.

Interview with P. Carcassonne and J. Fieschi, in Cinématographe (Paris), March/April 1981.

Interview with T. Ryan and S. Murray, in Cinema Papers (Melbourne), May/June 1983.

Interview in Post Script (Jacksonville, Florida), Fall 1983.

Interview with J. A. Gili and M. Henry, in Positif (Paris), April 1986.

"Dialogue on Film: Sydney Pollack," in American Film (Washington, D.C.), December 1986.

"Sydney Pollack," an interview with A. Dutertre, in Revue du Cinéma (Paris), March 1991.

"Le papillon et l'ouragan: entretien avec Sydney Pollack," with M. Henry, in Positif (Paris), March 1991.

"Intervista a Sydney Pollack fra produzione e regia," with F. La Polla, in Cineforum (Bergamo), July/August 1991.

"J'espere que c'est a cause de Tootsie!" an interview with M. Henry, in Positif (Paris), December 1992.

"John Seale, ACS Lends Firm Hand to Law Thriller," an interview with Rick Baker and John Seale, in American Cinematographer (Hollywood), July 1993.

McGregor, Alex and Brian Case, "The Bright Stuff: That Thinking Feeling," in Time Out (London), 1 September 1993.

Segnocinema (Vicenza), January/February 1994.

Stivers, C., "Scions of the Times," in Premiere (Boulder), November 1995.

Hindes, A., "Pollack Packs Full Bag," in Variety (New York), 11/17 December 1995.

Jacobsen, M., "Copyright on Trial in Denmark," in Image Technology (London), May 1997.

On POLLACK: books—

Gili, Jean A., Sydney Pollack , Nice, 1971.

Taylor, William R. Sydney Pollack , Boston, 1981.

Leon, Michele, Sydney Pollack , Paris, 1991.

Dworkin, Susan, Making Tootsie: A Film Study with Dustin Hoffman and Sydney Pollack , New York, 1991.

Meyer, Janet L., Sydney Pollack: A Critical Filmography , Jefferson, 1998.

On POLLACK: articles—

Madsen, Axel, "Pollack's Hollywood History," in Sight and Sound (London), Summer 1973.

Massuyeau, M., "Dossier: Hollywood '79: Sydney Pollack," in Cinématographe (Paris), March 1979.