Sydney Pollack (1934–2008) was an Academy Award-winning director, producer, actor, and writer who directed and produced over 40 films. He was born in 1934, in Lafayette, IN to a family of Russian-Jewish immigrants. From 1952–1954 Pollack studied acting with Sanford Meisner at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York, began his acting career on stage, and made his big-screen debut in War Hunt (1962). He began directing television in the early 1960s and had his biggest success as a film director with Out of Africa (1985), which won seven Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Picture. Pollack turned to comedy (as both director and actor) with Tootsie (1982), which was nominated for ten Academy Awards. Pollack also served as producer on many films including The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), The Quiet American (2002), and Cold Mountain (2003). Pollack returned to the director's chair in 2004 with The Interpreter (2005). In 2000, Pollack was honored with the John Huston Award from the Directors Guild of America as a “defender of artists' rights.” He died of cancer on May 26, 2008, at his home in Pacific Palisades, CA.