The director of films such as “Tootsie” and Oscar-winning with “Out of Africa”, Sydney Pollack has died of cancer, said his agent.On Monday afternoon, Sydney Pollack, 73, died at his home in Los Angeles, California, said Leslee Dart.
Though he directed more than 30 films, Mr Pollack’s biggest success was “Out of Africa”, in 1985, starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, which won an Oscar for best director and for best picture.
He also received best director nomination for “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” and “Tootsie”, with Dustin Hoffman, as well as for “The Firm”, with Tom Cruise.
Sydney Pollack was also an accomplished producer and actor throughout his five decades’s career. He starred in Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut” with Cruise and, more recently, “Michael Clayton” with George Clooney.
In August 2007, his illness became known, after he pulled out of directing a film for unspecified health reasons.
Pollack’s agent, Leslee Dart, told the Reuters news agency that he had been diagnosed with cancer about 10 months ago, although doctors were never able to determine the primary source of the disease.
His son Steven died in a plane crash in 1993, said the New York Times, but Sydney Pollack is survived by his wife and two daughters.
