Sydney Pollak, the famous director, producer and actor has died on 27 May 2008. He had won an Academy Award in 1985 for Out of Africa (starring Meryl Streep) but for the last 10 months he was fighting a cancer. Last August he was forced to withdraw as a director of an HBO movie due to some health problems.

The Tootsie actor was diagnosed with cancer about 10 months ago but doctors couldn’t determine the primary source of the dreadful disease.

Sydney Pollack was born in Indiana in 1934. As a young man he used to work as an acting coach and TV director before his directing debut with The Slender Thread in 1965.

He directed movies with Barbara Streisand, Meryl Streep, Robert Redford (The Way We Were), Tom Cruise (The Firm) and Dustin Hoffman (Tootsie). I think I saw at leas half of his movies and still can’d

May God rest his soul!