Sydney Pollack in Rome after a press conference for his movie “Sketches of Frank Gehry.

Sydney Pollack, a Hollywood mainstay as director, producer and sometime actor whose star-laden movies like “The Way We Were,” “Tootsie” and “Out of Africa” were among the most successful of the 1970s and ’80s, died on May 26 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 73. Left, Mr. Pollack in 1966 when he won an Emmy Award for outstanding directorial achievement for “The Game.”

Photo: Associated Press

Mr. Pollack worked with Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman on the 2005 film “The Interpreter.”

Photo: Phil Bray/Universal Studios