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In Memory

Sidney Pollack - Class Of 1952 VIEW PROFILE

Sidney Pollack

  

Sydney Pollack was an Academy Award-winning director, producer, actor, writer and public figure, who directed and produced over 40 films.

Sydney Irwin Pollack was born July 1, 1934 in Lafayette, Indiana, USA, to Rebecca (Miller), a homemaker, and David Pollack, a professional boxer turned pharmacist. All of his grandparents were Russian Jewish immigrants. His parents divorced when he was young. His mother, an alcoholic, died at age 37, when Sydney was 16. He spent his formative years in Indiana, graduating from his HS in 1952, then moved to New York City.

From 1952-1954 young Pollack studied acting with Sanford Meisner at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York. He served two years in the army, and then returned to the Neighborhood Playhouse and taught acting. In 1958, Pollack married his former student Claire Griswold. They had three children. Their son, Steven Pollack, died in a plane crash on November 26, 1993, in Santa Monica, California. Their daughter, Rebecca Pollack, served as vice president of film production at United Artists during the 1990s. Their youngest daughter, Rachel Pollack, was born in 1969.

Sydney Pollack was an Academy Award-winning director, producer, actor, writer and public figure, who directed and produced over 40 films.

Sydney Irwin Pollack was born July 1, 1934 in Lafayette, Indiana, USA, to Rebecca (Miller), a homemaker, and David Pollack, a professional boxer turned pharmacist. All of his grandparents were Russian Jewish immigrants. His parents divorced when he was young. His mother, an alcoholic, died at age 37, when Sydney was 16. He spent his formative years in Indiana, graduating from his HS in 1952, then moved to New York City.

From 1952-1954 young Pollack studied acting with Sanford Meisner at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York. He served two years in the army, and then returned to the Neighborhood Playhouse and taught acting. In 1958, Pollack married his former student Claire Griswold. They had three children. Their son, Steven Pollack, died in a plane crash on November 26, 1993, in Santa Monica, California. Their daughter, Rebecca Pollack, served as vice president of film production at United Artists during the 1990s. Their youngest daughter, Rachel Pollack, was born in 1969.

Pollack began his acting career on stage, then made his name as television director in the early 1960s. He made his big screen acting debut in War Hunt (1962), where he met fellow actor Robert Redford, and the two co-stars established a life-long friendship. Pollack called on his good friend Redford to play opposite Natalie Wood in This Property Is Condemned (1966). Pollack and Redford worked together on six more films over the years. His biggest success came with Out of Africa (1985), starring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep. The movie earned eleven Academy Award nominations in all and seven wins, including Pollack's two Oscars: one for Best Direction and one for Best Picture.

Pollack showed his best as a comedy director and actor in Tootsie (1982), where he brought feminist issues to public awareness using his remarkable wit and wisdom, and created a highly entertaining film, which was nominated for ten Academy Awards. Pollack's directing revealed Dustin Hoffman's range and nuanced acting in gender switching from a dominant boyfriend to a nurse in drag, a brilliant collaboration of director and actor that broadened public perception about sex roles. Pollack also made success in producing such films as The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), The Quiet American (2002) and Cold Mountain (2003). Pollack returned to the director's chair in 2004, when he directed The Interpreter (2005), the first film ever shot on location at the United Nations Headquarters and within the General Assembly in New York City.

In 2000, Sydney Pollack was honored with the John Huston Award from the Directors Guild of America as a "defender of artists' rights." He died from cancer on May 26, 2008, at his home in the Los Angeles suburb of Pacific Palisades, California.


From Wikipedia.org

Pollack was born in Lafayette, Indiana, to a family of Russian-Jewish immigrants,[2] the son of Rebecca (née Miller) and David Pollack, a semi-professional boxer and pharmacist.[2] The family relocated to South Bend and his parents divorced when he was young. His mother, who suffered from alcoholism and emotional problems, died at the age of 37 while Pollack was a student.[3]

Despite earlier plans to attend college and then medical school, Pollack left Indiana for New York City soon after finishing high school at age 17.[4] Pollack studied acting with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre from 1952 to 1954, working on a lumber truck between terms.[4]

After two years army service, ending in 1958, he returned to the Playhouse at Meisner's invitation to become his assistant.[5] In 1960, John Frankenheimer, a friend of Pollack, asked him to come to Los Angeles in order to work as a dialogue coach for the child actors on Frankenheimer's first big picture, The Young Savages. It was during this time that Pollack met Burt Lancaster who encouraged the young actor to try directing.[5]

 


Year

Title

Director

Producer

Notes

1965

The Slender Thread

Yes

 

Paramount Pictures

1966

This Property Is Condemned

Yes

 

1968

The Scalphunters

Yes

 

United Artists

1969

Castle Keep

Yes

 

Columbia Pictures

They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

Yes

 

Cinerama Releasing Corporation

1972

Jeremiah Johnson

Yes

 

Warner Bros.

1973

The Way We Were

Yes

 

Columbia

1974

The Yakuza

Yes

Yes

Warner Bros

1975

Three Days of the Condor

Yes

 

Paramount Pictures

1977

Bobby Deerfield

Yes

Yes

Columbia Pictures

1979

The Electric Horseman

Yes

 

Universal Pictures

1981

Absence of Malice

Yes

 

Columbia Pictures

1982

Tootsie

Yes

Yes

1985

Out of Africa

Yes

Yes

Universal Pictures

1990

Havana

Yes

 

1993

The Firm

Yes

Yes

Paramount Pictures

1995

Sabrina

Yes

Yes

1999

Random Hearts

Yes

Yes

Columbia Pictures

2005

The Interpreter

Yes

 

Universal Pictures

2005

Sketches of Frank Gehry

Yes

Executive

Sony Pictures Classics

2018

Amazing Grace

Yes

 

Neon


 

South Bend Tribune  July 8, 2013

If you are a Central High School graduate and you did not attend the All Classes gathering on June 28,you missed out on a tremendous event.

This year we Central grads gathered to honor our late,great friend Sydney Pollack who is, without a doubt,the most famous Central grad.

I was fortunate to attend Central when Sydney attended.

He was the star of the Central Barnstormers and the pride and joy of Central's fabled drama director, James Lewis Casaday. Casaday was Syd's mentor from day one and Syd admired Casaday to the fullest.

The All-Class Alumni Association is sponsoring the James Lewis Casaday/Sydney Pollack Scholarship Fund.The $10,000 goal is halfway met.

I have devoted myself to this matter because I knew Sydney well.I followed his career closely from day one.I spoke by phone with Sydney the night before he died.We lost a great talent on May 26,2008.

More than 40 years ago CentralHigh School closed its doors.In 40 more years,there will be very few of us to shout her praises. Give now! Remember these two great Central men.

Larry Giantomas (1951)

 

 

 

02/19/2021 JFC



Click here to see Sidney's last Profile entry.