---
name: "Sydney Pollack"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/sydney-pollack"
fi1m_id: "sydney-pollack"
imdb_id: "nm0001628"
tmdb_id: 2226
wikidata_id: "Q51522"
roles: ["Director","Producer","Actor"]
born: "1 July 1934"
died: "26 May 2008"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 22
average_fi1m_score: 73
average_as: "director"
average_over: 7
updated: "2026-10-05T04:03:24.468389+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Sydney Pollack

## Identity

Sydney Pollack

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/sydney-pollack
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** sydney-pollack
- **IMDb ID:** nm0001628
- **TMDB ID:** 2226
- **Wikidata ID:** Q51522
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Pollack, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q51522, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001628/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/2226

Director and producer. Born 1 July 1934 in Lafayette, Indiana, USA. Died 26 May 2008.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Producer, Actor
- **Born:** 1 July 1934, Lafayette, Indiana, USA
- **Died:** 26 May 2008
- **Active:** 1963–2011
- **Also known as:** Sidney Pollack, Sydney Irwin Pollack
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 22: 5 acting, 7 directing, 9 producing, 1 other
- **Frequently works with:** [Nicole Kidman](https://film.one/person/nicole-kidman.md), [Anthony Minghella](https://film.one/person/anthony-minghella.md), [David Rayfiel](https://film.one/person/david-rayfiel.md), [Jeanne Tripplehorn](https://film.one/person/jeanne-tripplehorn.md), [Kurt Luedtke](https://film.one/person/kurt-luedtke.md), [Robert Redford](https://film.one/person/robert-redford.md), [Scott Rudin](https://film.one/person/scott-rudin.md), [Tom Cruise](https://film.one/person/tom-cruise.md)
- **Academy Awards:** 2 Oscars (2 won · 6 nominated)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 73, as director, over 7 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1960s 84 (1), 1970s 80 (1), 1980s 71 (3), 1990s 78 (10), 2000s 66 (5), 2010s 79 (2)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 70 to 67 across 5 titles
- **Score spread:** 3 at 80+, 3 at 60–79, 1 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 0 of 1 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Drama 4, Mystery 3, Romance 3, Thriller 3, Crime 2, Action & Adventure 1
- **Screen time:** 13 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $920m across 6 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Pollack, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q51522, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001628/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/2226

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*The Player*](https://film.one/film/the-player.md) (85), [*Eyes Wide Shut*](https://film.one/film/eyes-wide-shut.md) (81), [*The Firm*](https://film.one/film/the-firm.md) (71)
- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Tootsie*](https://film.one/film/tootsie.md) (85), [*Absence of Malice*](https://film.one/film/absence-of-malice.md) (73)
- **Tubi:** [*The Fugitive*](https://film.one/tv/the-fugitive-1963.md) (84), [*Presumed Innocent*](https://film.one/film/presumed-innocent.md) (82)
- **The Roku Channel:** [*Husbands and Wives*](https://film.one/film/husbands-and-wives.md) (83)
- **Pluto TV:** [*Three Days of the Condor*](https://film.one/film/three-days-of-the-condor.md) (80)
- **Disney+:** [*Margaret*](https://film.one/film/margaret.md) (78)
- **Peacock:** [*Sliding Doors*](https://film.one/film/sliding-doors.md) (63)
- **Netflix:** [*The Interpreter*](https://film.one/film/the-interpreter.md) (62)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Sydney Pollack

> Sydney Pollack made star films for grown-ups: patient, well acted, decent about their people. When the story is a man thinking his way out of trouble, he was hard to beat. When it is a romance, the patience turns into distance.

The typical Pollack scene is a man in a room working something out while the world waits. Robert Redford's Joseph Turner in *Three Days of the Condor* (1975) has a telephone, a threat and a few minutes to reason, and Pollack lets him use them. Dustin Hoffman's Michael Dorsey in *Tootsie* (1982) treats unemployment as a clerical mistake he can argue his way out of. Pollack trusts these people to be interesting while they think, and he is right more often than not. His camera does not push. Don Guidice's cutting on *Condor* gives Turner a chance to think and then a reason to move, and the suspense rarely needs forcing.

He came to directing from acting, having trained with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse, and he spent the early 1960s in television, on *The Fugitive* and *Ben Casey* among others. The first feature was *The Slender Thread* (1965); *They Shoot Horses, Don't They?* (1969) got him noticed. From 1966 he and Redford worked together, seven films in all, including *Jeremiah Johnson* (1972), *The Way We Were* (1973), *Condor* and *Out of Africa* (1985). He directed less as the years went on and produced more.

What he did well was actors, and not only stars. *Tootsie* is Hoffman's film on the poster, but Pollack gives Jessica Lange someone whose feelings matter, Teri Garr an anxious precision that deserves as much attention, and Bill Murray a quieter corner, and he plays George Fields himself, resisting Hoffman and making the resistance funny. He was also good at the ordinary. In *Condor*, Owen Roizman, his cinematographer on five films, and Stephen B. Grimes's production design keep the city plain, so we look at doorways and lifts for danger. Pollack could make the CIA seem capable of treating a man's survival as an administrative complication, and he did it without making the settings glower before anyone walked in.

The weakness is love. The romance in *Condor* is the part we did not believe. In *Out of Africa*, 161 minutes of it, we sat waiting for Redford's Denys to want something badly enough to disturb the furniture, and we ended up admiring Milena Canonero's costumes instead, which is not what a love story is for. Redford's reserve served the thriller. In the romance Pollack seems to share it: he gives the courtship plenty of time and the attraction seldom becomes urgent. The standard complaint about him is that he had no style of his own. We think that half right. There is no visual signature, but there is a temperament, patient and reasonable, and a romance needs at least one person on screen who is neither.

He said all his films were character-driven pictures about people he was interested in, and that holds even when the pictures do not. Start with *Tootsie*, then *Condor*, and decide how you feel about Redford before you commit 161 minutes to *Out of Africa*.

## Biography

Sydney Pollack (1934–2008) was an American film director, producer and actor. Born in Lafayette, Indiana, he began his career in the 1960s and directed numerous studio films over four decades.

His best-known directorial work includes *They Shoot Horses, Don't They?* (1969), *Jeremiah Johnson* (1972), *The Way We Were* (1973), *Three Days of the Condor* (1975), *Tootsie* (1982) and *Out of Africa* (1985), for which he won Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture. He also produced films such as *Presumed Innocent* (1990) and acted in *The Player* (1992), *Husbands and Wives* (1992) and *Eyes Wide Shut* (1999).

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, metacritic.com.*

## On Fi1m (22)

### Performed in (5)

- *Michael Clayton* (2007), Fi1m 86, as Marty Bach — [page](https://film.one/film/michael-clayton.md)
- *Entourage* (2004), Fi1m 63, as Sydney Pollack — [page](https://film.one/tv/entourage.md)
- *Eyes Wide Shut* (1999), Fi1m 81, as Victor Ziegler — [page](https://film.one/film/eyes-wide-shut.md)
- *Husbands and Wives* (1992), Fi1m 83, as Jack — [page](https://film.one/film/husbands-and-wives.md)
- *The Player* (1992), Fi1m 85, as Dick Mellen — [page](https://film.one/film/the-player.md)

### Directed (7) — the average rests on these

- *The Interpreter* (2005), Fi1m 62, Executive Producer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/the-interpreter.md)
- *The Firm* (1993), Fi1m 71, Director, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-firm.md)
- *Out of Africa* (1985), Fi1m 54, Producer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/out-of-africa.md)
- *Tootsie* (1982), Fi1m 85, as George Fields — [page](https://film.one/film/tootsie.md)
- *Absence of Malice* (1981), Fi1m 73, Producer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/absence-of-malice.md)
- *Three Days of the Condor* (1975), Fi1m 80, Producer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/three-days-of-the-condor.md)
- *The Fugitive* (1963), Fi1m 84, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-fugitive-1963.md)

### Produced (9)

- *Margaret* (2011), Fi1m 78, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/margaret.md)
- *The Reader* (2008), Fi1m 56, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-reader.md)
- *Cold Mountain* (2003), Fi1m 62, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/cold-mountain.md)
- *The Talented Mr. Ripley* (1999), Fi1m 80, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-talented-mr-ripley.md)
- *Sliding Doors* (1998), Fi1m 63, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/sliding-doors.md)
- *Sense and Sensibility* (1995), Fi1m 85, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/sense-and-sensibility.md)
- *Fallen Angels* (1993), Fi1m 72, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/tv/fallen-angels-1993.md)
- *Dead Again* (1991), Fi1m 78, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/dead-again.md)
- *Presumed Innocent* (1990), Fi1m 82, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/presumed-innocent.md)

### Also credited (1) — thanks, archive footage, uncredited

- *Silver Linings Playbook* (2012), Fi1m 80, Thanks — [page](https://film.one/film/silver-linings-playbook.md)

## Complete filmography (106)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Citizen Jane Fonda* (2020), Actor
- *Amazing Grace* (2018), Director
- *Silver Linings Playbook* (2012), Thanks — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/silver-linings-playbook.md)
- *Margaret* (2011), Producer — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/margaret.md)
- *The Reader* (2008), Producer — Fi1m 56, [page](https://film.one/film/the-reader.md)
- *Recount* (2008), Executive Producer
- *Made of Honor* (2008), as Thomas Sr.
- *Leatherheads* (2008), Executive Producer
- *James Taylor | One Man Band* (2007), Executive Producer
- *Michael Clayton* (2007), as Marty Bach · Producer — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/film/michael-clayton.md)
- *Breaking and Entering* (2006), Producer
- *Catch a Fire* (2006), Executive Producer
- *Sketches of Frank Gehry* (2006), Director, Director of Photography, Executive Producer
- *Avenue Montaigne* (2006), as Brian Sobinski
- *Forty Shades of Blue* (2005), Executive Producer
- *The Art of Imagination: A Tribute to Oz* (2005), as Narrator (voice)
- *The Interpreter* (2005), as Jay Pettigrew (uncredited) · Director, Executive Producer — Fi1m 62, [page](https://film.one/film/the-interpreter.md)
- *Entourage* (2004), series, as Sydney Pollack — Fi1m 63, [page](https://film.one/tv/entourage.md)
- *Cold Mountain* (2003), Producer — Fi1m 62, [page](https://film.one/film/cold-mountain.md)
- *Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin* (2003), as Narrator
- *In the Name of Love* (2003), Executive Producer
- *The Quiet American* (2002), Executive Producer
- *The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller* (2002), as Narrator (voice)
- *Changing Lanes* (2002), as Stephen Delano
- *Heaven* (2002), Executive Producer
- *The Majestic* (2001), as Studio Executive (voice)
- *Iris* (2001), Executive Producer
- *Birthday Girl* (2001), Executive Producer
- *Blow Dry* (2001), Executive Producer
- *Up at the Villa* (2000), Executive Producer
- *The Talented Mr. Ripley* (1999), Executive Producer — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/the-talented-mr-ripley.md)
- *Random Hearts* (1999), as Carl Broman · Director, Producer
- *Eyes Wide Shut* (1999), as Victor Ziegler — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/film/eyes-wide-shut.md)
- *The Sopranos* (1999), series, as Warren Feldman — Fi1m 94, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-sopranos.md)
- *A Civil Action* (1998), as Al Eustis
- *Will & Grace* (1998), series, as George Truman
- *Poodle Springs* (1998), Executive Producer
- *Sliding Doors* (1998), Producer — Fi1m 63, [page](https://film.one/film/sliding-doors.md)
- *Just Shoot Me!* (1997), series, as Sydney Pollack
- *King of the Hill* (1997), series, as Grant Trimble (voice) — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/king-of-the-hill-1997.md)
- *Sabrina* (1995), Director, Producer
- *Sense and Sensibility* (1995), Executive Producer — Fi1m 85, [page](https://film.one/film/sense-and-sensibility.md)
- *Red Wind* (1995), Executive Producer
- *Flesh and Bone* (1993), Executive Producer
- *Frasier* (1993), series, as Holden Thorpe (voice) — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/tv/frasier.md)
- *Searching for Bobby Fischer* (1993), Executive Producer
- *Fallen Angels* (1993), series, Executive Producer — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/tv/fallen-angels-1993.md)
- *The Firm* (1993), Director, Producer — Fi1m 71, [page](https://film.one/film/the-firm.md)
- *Mad About You* (1992), series, as Dr. Sydney Warren
- *Husbands and Wives* (1992), as Jack — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/film/husbands-and-wives.md)
- *Death Becomes Her* (1992), as Hospital Doctor (uncredited) — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/film/death-becomes-her.md)
- *A Private Matter* (1992), Executive Producer
- *The Player* (1992), as Dick Mellen — Fi1m 85, [page](https://film.one/film/the-player.md)
- *Leaving Normal* (1992), Executive Producer
- *Dead Again* (1991), Executive Producer — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/dead-again.md)
- *King Ralph* (1991), Executive Producer
- *Havana* (1990), Director, Producer
- *White Palace* (1990), Executive Producer
- *Sanford Meisner Master Class* (1990), Director
- *Sanford Meisner: The American Theatre's Best Kept Secret* (1990), Executive Producer, Other
- *Presumed Innocent* (1990), Producer — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/presumed-innocent.md)
- *The Fabulous Baker Boys* (1989), Executive Producer
- *Bright Lights, Big City* (1988), Producer
- *A Tiger's Tale* (1988), Thanks
- *Nine 1/2 Weeks* (1986), as Other
- *Out of Africa* (1985), Producer, Director — Fi1m 54, [page](https://film.one/film/out-of-africa.md)
- *Songwriter* (1984), Producer
- *Tootsie* (1982), as George Fields · Producer, Director — Fi1m 85, [page](https://film.one/film/tootsie.md)
- *Natalie - A Tribute to a Very Special Lady* (1982), Actor
- *Absence of Malice* (1981), Director, Producer — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/film/absence-of-malice.md)
- *Honeysuckle Rose* (1980), Executive Producer
- *The Electric Horseman* (1979), as Man Who Makes Pass at Alice (uncredited) · Director
- *Bobby Deerfield* (1977), Director, Producer
- *Three Days of the Condor* (1975), Director, Producer — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/three-days-of-the-condor.md)
- *The Yakuza* (1974), Director, Producer
- *The Way We Were* (1973), Director
- *The Men Who Made the Movies: Howard Hawks* (1973), as Narrator (voice)
- *Jeremiah Johnson* (1972), Director
- *They Shoot Horses, Don't They?* (1969), Director
- *Castle Keep* (1969), Director
- *The Swimmer* (1968), Co-Director
- *The Scalphunters* (1968), Director
- *This Property Is Condemned* (1966), Director
- *The Slender Thread* (1965), Director
- *Slattery's People* (1964), series, Director
- *The Fugitive* (1963), series, Director — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-fugitive-1963.md)
- *Breaking Point* (1963), series, Director
- *Arrest and Trial* (1963), series, Director
- *The Alfred Hitchcock Hour* (1962), series, Director
- *War Hunt* (1962), as Sgt. Owen Van Horn
- *Frontier Circus* (1961), series, Director
- *The New Breed* (1961), series, as Austin Rogers, Bert Masters
- *Ben Casey* (1961), series, Director
- *Target: The Corruptors!* (1961), series, Director
- *Cain's Hundred* (1961), series, Director
- *The Defenders* (1961), series, Director
- *The Young Savages* (1961), Dialect Coach
- *The Tall Man* (1960), series, Director
- *The Turn of the Screw* (1959), Dialogue Coach
- *Startime* (1959), series, as Harry · Dialogue
- *The Twilight Zone* (1959), series, as Arthur Willis — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-twilight-zone.md)
- *For Whom the Bell Tolls* (1959), as Andres
- *Now Is Tomorrow* (1958), as Capt. Stein
- *Have Gun, Will Travel* (1957), series, as Joe Culp
- *Playhouse 90* (1956), series, as Andres
- *Alfred Hitchcock Presents* (1955), series, as Bernie Samuelson

## Gallery

- ![Sydney Pollack as Marty Bach in Michael Clayton (2007)](https://film.one/media/title/5441/still-43ad4cff48fb.jpg) Sydney Pollack as Marty Bach in *Michael Clayton* (2007) — Image via TMDB
- ![Sidney Pollack. 2000 Washington D.C copyright John Mathew Smith 2001 (2010)](https://film.one/media/person/78256/gallery-91e77c5be4e0.jpg) Sidney Pollack. 2000 Washington D.C copyright John Mathew Smith 2001 (2010) — Kingkongphoto & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel  Maryland, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Sidney_Pollack_2000.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Sydney Pollack](https://film.one/media/person/78256/gallery-97ae8b24defa.jpg) Sydney Pollack — Arthur from Westchester County north of NYC, USA, at Arthur@NYCArthur.com, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Sydney_Pollack.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Sydney Pollack in 1986](https://film.one/media/person/78256/gallery-20b419b1cad4.jpg) Sydney Pollack in 1986 — Stevan Kragujević, CC BY-SA 3.0 rs, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/S.Kragujevic%2C_Sydney_Pollack_1986.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Sydney Pollack](https://film.one/media/person/78256/gallery-ab883a50a249.jpg) Sydney Pollack — Image via TMDB
- ![Sydney Pollack](https://film.one/media/person/78256/gallery-513d868a635d.jpg) Sydney Pollack — Image via TMDB
- ![Sydney Pollack](https://film.one/media/person/78256/gallery-116149b03ce1.jpg) Sydney Pollack — Image via TMDB
- ![Sydney Pollack](https://film.one/media/person/78256/gallery-785bc5a6f408.jpg) Sydney Pollack — Image via TMDB
- ![Sydney Pollack](https://film.one/media/person/78256/gallery-cc2fe5f3b7f9.jpg) Sydney Pollack — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 2 won, 6 nominated

- 2009: Best Picture (nominated), for *The Reader*
- 2008: Best Picture (nominated), for *Michael Clayton*
- 1987: Best Picture (nominated), for *Out of Africa*
- 1986: Best Director (won), for *Out of Africa*
- 1986: Best Picture (won), for *Out of Africa*
- 1983: Best Director (nominated), for *Tootsie*
- 1983: Best Picture (nominated), for *Tootsie*
- 1970: Best Director (nominated), for *They Shoot Horses, Don't They?*

### Golden Globes — 1 won

- 1985: Best Motion Picture – Drama (won), for *Out of Africa*

### Primetime Emmy Awards — 1 won

- 1966: Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (won), for *Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre*

### Berlin International Film Festival — 1 won

- 1986: Berlinale Camera (won)

### Other awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- European Film Award for Best Film 2009: European Film Award for Best Film (nominated), for *The Reader*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/sydney-pollack