Offscreen Notes
Sidney Lumet: 1924-2011
American luminary Sidney Lumet passed away on April 9th at age 86. Lumet will be remembered not as a great visual stylist (although he showed signs in his 1965 film The Pawnbroker of some expressive touches) but as an actor’s director who coaxed some great performances from some of the biggest and best actors of his generation. In particular Lumet excelled at directing ensemble casts, such as in Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Katherine Hepburn, Jason Robards, Ralph Richardson, Dean Stockwell), Twelve Angry Men (Henry Fonda, Martin Balsam, L.J. Cobb, Jack Klugman, Jack Warden), Network (Peter Finch, Robert Duvall, Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Ned Beatty), and Murder on the Orient Express (Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Martin Balsam, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Richard Widmark, Jacqueline Bisset, Vanessa Redgrave, Rachel Roberts, Anthony Perkins). I will remember him most fondly for getting perhaps the best out of Al Pacino when he was at the very peak of his powers, in Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon.
