Pollack was known to the world as the director of iconic films like Tootsie and Out of Africa. But to the members of the DGA, he was also a champion of artists’ rights, an involved member of the Guild and a founding member of The Film Foundation throughout his successful career as a director.
Active in service to the Guild, Pollack served on the DGA’s Social Responsibility Task Force and joined the Guild’s PAC Leadership Council, meeting frequently with elected leaders in government to discuss protection of the creative and economic rights of Guild members.
In 1987, Pollack testified before Congress in support of the Guild’s fight against the unauthorized colorization of directors’ work. At the hearing, he said, “The whole art of directing is based entirely on a series of choices; therefore, the relative worth of a director is taken from the sum or his or her choices, and to take that away from the director is essentially to rob him or her of who and what they are.”
Pollack also fought an important artists’ rights battle in Denmark regarding the airing of a “pan and scan” version of his film Three Days of the Condor where he testified to the Danish court that the cropping of his film was a mutilation and that the director had a “moral right” to have his artistic reputation protected. Although the case was lost on a technicality, Pollack felt it was an important victory in the battle for artists’ rights.
For a lifetime dedicated to protecting and preserving the creative rights of film directors, Pollack was honored with the DGA Honors John Huston Award for Artists Rights in 2000. When he received the DGA Honor, fellow Guild member Barbra Streisand said, “The John Huston Award has become one of the film community’s most prestigious awards. I can think of no one more deserving to carry on the legacy and tradition of the John Huston Award than Sydney.” Upon receiving the DGA Honor, Pollack himself stated, “On behalf of all the recipients of this award, and on behalf of all those who will get this, I accept this award. We have a long way to go in protecting artists’ rights. We’ve taken a few baby steps, so here’s to the good fight.”
Upon learning of Pollack’s passing, Directors Guild of America President Michael Apted called Pollack the “quintessential actor’s director.”
“Sydney let the dialogue and the emotion of a scene speak for itself,” said Apted. “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. From the romance of The Way We Were to the sweeping vistas of Out of Africa, from the out-of-work actor in Tootsie to the architectural prowess of Frank Gehry — Sydney told a story like no other.”
In addition to the DGA Honors John Huston Award for Artists Rights, Pollack received three nominations for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film: in 1969 for They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?; in 1982 for Tootsie; and in 1985 for Out of Africa.
