SYDNEY POLLACK - OSCAR-WINNING DIRECTOR SYDNEY POLLACK DIES AGED 73

OSCAR-WINNING DIRECTOR SYDNEY POLLACK DIES AGED 73

Academy award-winning director Sydney Pollack has died at the age of 73.

The Out of Africa helmer died of cancer at his home in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, with his family around him, according to his publicist.

Though he had been diagnosed with cancer only ten months ago, the Indiana-born director and producer had continued to work, most recently producing the Oscar-nominated thriller Michael Clayton.

George Clooney, who worked with Pollack on Michael Clayton and recent screwball comedy Leatherheads, said the director would be "missed terribly."

"Sydney made the world a little better, movies a little better and even dinner a little better," he added.

"A tip of the hat to a class act."

Michael Apted, president of the Directors Guild of America, said Pollack was the "quintessential 'actor's director'".

"Sydney let the dialogue and the emotion of a scene speak for itself," he added in a statement.

"Not given to cinematic tricks, his gentle and thoughtful touch and his focus on the story let us inhabit the world he created in each film."

A prolific producer, Pollack worked on the likes of Sense and Sensibility, Iris and twice with the late Anthony Minghella on The Talented Mr Ripley and Cold Mountain.

And he continued to act throughout his career, appearing in his own film Tootsie, as well as acting under Stanley Kubrick in Eyes Wide Shut and Woody Allen in Husbands and Wives.

He is survived by his wife and daughters Rebecca and Rachel.