Sydney Pollack To Receive American Society Of Cinematographers Board Of Governors Award

12-Dec-05

Sydney Pollack will receive the 2006 American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Board of Governors Award, which is presented annually to an individual who has made significant and enduring contributions to advancing the art of filmmaking. He will be feted here during the 20th Annual ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards ceremony on February 26, 2006, at the Century Plaza Hotel.""Sydney Pollack is a complete filmmaker who has directed and produced some of the most memorable films of our times,"" says Russ Alsobrook, ASC, chairman of the organization's Awards Committee. ""He has made extraordinary contributions to advancing the art of filmmaking, in addition to playing a vital role in some our industry's most important institutions. Mr. Pollack has earned both the respect and gratitude of our members.""Pollack's films have earned 46 OscarÆ nominations. He received Oscars for both directing and producing OUT OF AFRICA, and other nominations for directing TOOTSIE and THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY? Pollack also earned an EmmyÆ Award and two other nominations for directing television plays at the beginning of his career. He is a founding member of the Sundance Institute and The Film Foundation, Chairman Emeritus of the American Cinematheque, and is on the Board of Directors for the Motion Picture and Television Fund. ""Sydney Pollack is a consummate artist, who brings innate talent and total dedication to everything he does,"" says Owen Roizman, ASC. ""His films have a lyrical quality like great music, and the timing is impeccable. He is never satisfied. Sydney is always working up to the last minute and beyond that to make his films better. His passion is contagious. It inspires everyone around him to dig a little deeper.""Roizman is speaking from experience. He lensed five films directed by Pollack, beginning with THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR in 1975. They both earned Oscar nominations for TOOTSIE in 1982. Their other joint ventures were THE ELECTRIC HORSEMAN, ABSENCE OF MALICE and HAVANA.Previous recipients of the ASC Board of Governors Award are Gregory Peck, Charles Champlin, Sheldon Leonard, Fay Kanin, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Jodie Foster, Robert Wise, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Altman, Warren Beatty, Sally Field, Stanley Donen, Norman Jewison, Irwin Winkler and Gilbert Cates.Pollack was born and raised in Lafayette, Indiana, where his father was a pharmacist. He worked at various odd jobs and saved sufficient money to pay tuition for a year at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City.""It just was something to do until I got drafted,"" he explains. ""I had done some acting in high school, but didn't believe in my gut that would be my career.""His teacher at the Playhouse was the legendary Sanford Meisner. After completing the second year of his education at the Playhouse on a scholarship, Pollack played the lead in STALAG 17 at a summer stock theater. He was drafted in 1957 and served in the United States Army at Ft. Carson, Colorado. Pollack returned to the Playhouse as Meisner's assistant in September 1958. In addition to assisting Meisner, he performed on live TV programs, including THE KRAFT THEATRE, STUDIO ONE and PLAYHOUSE 90, and in several Broadway plays.Pollack's career took a definitive turn in 1960. John Frankenheimer was directing THE YOUNG SAVAGES. He hired Pollack to coach several child actors in that film. Burt Lancaster was one of the stars. The actor told Pollack that he should be directing and introduced him to Lew Wasserman at Universal Studios. Wasserman offered him a six-month contact.Pollack spent the next four years directing episodes of such classic television series as THE DEFENDERS, THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR, BEN CASEY, THE FUGITIVE, THE CHRYSLER THEATRE and KRAFT SUSPENSE THEATRE. He was nominated for three consecutive Emmy Awards, and took top honors for THE GAME, which was featured on the BOB HOPE PRESENTS THE CHRYSLER THEATRE anthology series.Pollack earned his first feature credit as a director in 1965 for THE SLENDER THREAD. He has subsequently taken some 20 turns at the helm, including such memorable features as JEREMIAH JOHNSON, OUT OF AFRICA, TOOTSIE, THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY?, THE ELECTRIC HORSEMAN, ABSENCE OF MALICE, THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR, THE FIRM, SABRINA and THE INTERPRETER.In 1975, Pollack produced in addition to directing THE YAKUZA. He has earned more than 40 credits as a producer. An abbreviated list includes TOOTSIE, ABSENCE OF MALICE, HONEYSUCKLE ROSE, WHITE PALACE, THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS, PRESUMED INNOCENT, SEARCHING FOR BOBBY FISCHER, THE FIRM, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, THE QUIET AMERICAN, COLD MOUNTAIN, THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY and the upcoming BREAKING AND ENTERING. The last three of those films were directed by Anthony Minghella who joined him as a partner at Mirage Productions in 2000.Pollack founded Mirage Productions in partnership with Mark Rosenberg who died in 1992.The versatile Pollack has also compiled about a dozen credits as an actor. He explains that in 1982, Dustin Hoffman convinced him to play his agent in TOOTSIE. Pollack has subsequently portrayed characters in THE PLAYER, DEATH BECOMES HER, A CIVIL ACTION, CHANGING LANES, EYES WIDE SHUT, HUSBANDS AND WIVES, and the television series MAD ABOUT YOU and WILL AND GRACE.He does it for the love of the game, and because it gives him an opportunity to watch other directors at work from the perspective of an actor.""I played a role in HUSBANDS AND WIVES because it gave me a chance to watch Woody Allen direct,"" he says. ""It was the same with Stanley Kubrick in EYES WIDE SHUT. He is a filmmaker whom I admire enormously.""The ASC was founded in 1919 during the dawn of the motion picture industry. Movies were black-and-white and silent, and cameras were hand cranked. The 15 charter members were dedicated to advancing the emerging art form. There are currently some 285 members today with roots in many different countries, and 145 associate members who work in ancillary sectors of the industry.

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