Name : Sidney Lumet
Birth : 25 June 1924
Died : 9 April 2011
Nationality :
Comment
Sidney Lumet was a director who understood the art of acting and hence drew good performances from his actors. He had a reputation of delivering films on time and on budget. He initially started as an actor and then moved into directing and in the 1950's he directed a number of television series (You Are There). On the back of this he directed 12 Angry Men as his first film and got an Oscar nomination for Best DIrector. The Fugitive Kind with Marlon Brando was one of several films he made based on novels/plays that he developed into cinema.The Pawnbroker was unusal for the time, being the view of a Holocaust survivor and flashes between the current to the past. In the same year he made the cold war thriller Fail-Safe that shows his ability to build suspense. The Hill is a very different and dramatic war film. This was followed by the spy thriller The Deadly Affair based on a John Le Carre novel. Serpico was a major commercial success for him. This was followed by his Oscar nominated heist film Dog Day Afternoon in which much of the film was improvised and filmed more a news report. Network was a reaction against corporate media. The courtroom drama The Verdict earned him anothe Oscar nomination as Best Director and Best Picture. His final film was Before the Devil Knows You're Dead a family crime drama.
Director
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007)
The Verdict (1982)
Network (1976)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Murder On The Orient Express (1974)
Serpico (1973)
The Deadly Affair (1967)
The Hill (1965)
Fail-Safe (1964)
The Pawnbroker (1964)
The Fugitive Kind (1960)
Stage Struck (1958)
12 Angry Men (1957)
Producer
The Deadly Affair (1967)
Oscars