Sidney Lumet RIP

American Film Director Sidney Lumet Dies at 86

April 9, 2011

By: Pete Stanton


Director Sidney Lumet, the man behind such classic movies as 12 Angry Men, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon and Network, has died at his Manhattan home at age 86. According to his step-daughter, the cause of death was lymphoma.

Despite having directed more than 40 films, picking up 50 Oscar nominations, Lumet never won a best director Academy Award, although he was nominated four times. In 2005, he received an honorary Academy Award.

A onetime child actor on Broadway and radio in the 1930s, Lumet moved into directing, learning his trade through live US television dramas in the '50s before making his feature-film directorial debut with 12 Angry Men. The 1957 legal drama set in a Manhattan jury room received three Academy Award nominations, including best picture and director.

Lumet went on to receive three other Oscar nominations for directing: for the 1975 Brooklyn bank-heist film Dog Day Afternoon, the 1976 television satire Network and the 1982 legal drama The Verdict.

Throughout Lumet's career he was regarded as a master of the cinematic craft, respected by actors and fellow directors alike.

When he received his honorary Oscar in 2005, presenter Al Pacino, who had received best actor Academy Award nominations for his work in Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon, said the director was not being honoured for his longevity but for the "quality" of his work.

"A Sidney Lumet movie," Pacino said, "has a signature, a stamp of individuality, a point of view, a feeling... It's real, kinetic, energy. You were there as the story was being told... I'm forever grateful, along with all the other actors and writers who have benefited from Sidney's genius."

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I think Hosni's a fan as far as I can recall.......