Tootsie

Sydney Pollack, May 26, age 73: "Sydney made the world a little better, movies a little better and even dinner a little better. A tip of the hat to a class act," said actor George Clooney, who acted with Pollack in last year's "Michael Clayton." Truer words were never spoken. Pollack... more was comfortable as an actor, and continued performing until he was diagnosed with cancer about nine months before his death. But it was as a director that he made his biggest impression, from "This Property Is Condemned," starring his friend and frequent star Robert Redford, in 1966, to the magnificent romance "The Way We Were" and "Out of Africa" (the latter of which won Pollack his two Oscars), to the gender-bending comedy "Tootsie," which Pollack directed and in which he co-starred with Dustin Hoffman. He was well-liked in Hollywood, and was married to his wife, Claire, for nearly 50 years. A tip of the hat, indeed, to a class act.

(CAMERA PRESS/Retna Ltd.)