Sydney Pollack
Sydney Pollacck’s films have explored human conduct, human ethics and values, all while
featuring such outstanding performers as Robert Redford, Jane Fonda, Dustin Hoffman,
Barbara Streisand, Paul Newman and Burt Lancaster. When many directors are preoccupied
with the more technical aspects or the purely entertaining elements of filmmaking, Mr. Pollack stands out.

Born in 1934 in Lafayette, Indiana, Mr. Pollack is the son of first-generation Russian-Jewish Americans
David and Rebecca Pollack and was raised in South Bend as the oldest of three children.
Movies were a major influence of his formative years.

After finishing high school in 1952, he moved to New York City to act, enrolling at the Neighborhood
Playhouse School of the Theatre where he studied under Sanford Meisner. Following a 1957-1958
hitch in the Army, he returned to the Playhouse as an acting instructor, earning a reputation as
an excellent teacher from students including Brenda Vaccaro, Rip Torn and Robert Duvall.
He also acted on the New York stage in A Stone for Danny Fisher (1954) and The Dark is Light Enough
(1955), toured with a road company of Stalag 17, and performed in television drama.
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