Sydney Pollack is an Academy Award-winning director, producer, actor, writer and public figure, who directed and produced over 40 films.He was born on July 1, 1934, in Lafayette, I...more >>ndiana, USA, to a family of Russian-Jewish immigrants. His mother, Rebecca Miller, was a homemaker. His father, David Pollack, was a professional boxer turned pharmacist. His parents divorced when he was young. His mother, an alcoholic, died at age 37, when Sydney Pollack was 16. He spent his formative years in Indiana, graduating from his HS in 1952, then moved to the New York City.<< collapse