Born in Philadelphia, Pa. in 1924, Sidney Lumet was one of the most prolific film directors of his time. His films received a total of forty-six Oscar nominations and won four. He directed seventeen actors to eighteen Oscar nominations and was nominated himself five times. He won an honorary award at the 2005 Academy Awards.
Known as an actor’s director, the seventeen who were nominated for Oscars under his direction read like a who’s who of Hollywood. They are Katharine Hepburn, Rod Steiger, Al Pacino (twice), Ingrid Bergman, Albert Finney, Chris Sarandon, Faye Dunaway, Peter Finch, Beatrice Straight, William Holden, Ned Beatty, Peter Firth, Richard Burton, Paul Newman, James Mason, Jane Fonda and River Phoenix. Bergman, Dunaway, Finch and Straight won.
Originally an actor, he was one of Broadway’s original Dead End kids, but did not repeat his stage role in the film version. Instead, he made his on-screen acting debut in 1939’s One Third of a Nation in support of Sylvia Sidney and Leif Erickson.
As famous for his marriages as for his long professional career, that career can be traced through those marriages.
A TV director during his first marriage to actress Rita Gam (1949-1955) , he directed mostly TV dramas. He directed his first two major films, the suspense-filled jury drama, 12 Angry Men, and Eugene O’Neill’s semi-autobiographical Long Day’s Journey into Night during his second marriage to Gloria Vanderbilt (1956-1963).
Lumet directed many of his most famous films including Fail Safe, The Pawnbroker for which Rod Steiger was nominated for an Oscar, The Hill starring Sean Connery, The Group which introduced Candice Bergen, The Deadly Affair and Child’s Play with James Mason, Serpico for which Al Pacino was nominated for an Oscar, Murder on the Orient Express for which Albert finney was nominated for an and Ingrid Bergman won her third, Dog Day Afternoon for which Pacino was again nominated along with Chris Sarandon, Network for which William Holden and Ned Beatty were nominated for Oscars and Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway, and Beatrice Straight won, Equus for which Richard Burton and Peter Firth were nominated for Oscars, and The Wiz starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson during his marriage to Lena Horne’s daughter Gail (1963-1978) with whom he had two children.
Married to his fourth wife, the non-professional Mary Gimbel, from 1980 to his death in 2011, he directed films as diverse as Prince of the City with Treat Williams, Deathtrap with Michael Caine and Christpher Reeve, The Verdict for which Paul Newman and James Mason were nominated for Oscars, Garbo Talks with Anne Bancroft, The Morning After for which Jane Fonda was nominated for an Oscar, Running on Empty for which River Phoenix was nominated for an Oscar, Q&A with Timothy Hutton, and Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, and Albert Finney during this period.
Sideny Lumet received an honorary Oscar at the 2005 ceremony having lost all five times he had been nominated. He died April 9, 2011 at 88.
ESSENTIAL FILMS
12 ANGRY MEN (1957)
This prototype of the jury deliberation drama, written by Reginald Rose, was first performed live for TV’s Studio One in 1954 with Franklin Schaffner’s directing a cast headed by Robert Cummings, Franchot Tone, Paul Hartman, Walter Abel and Edward Arnold in the roles played on screen by Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Jack Warden, E.G. Marshall and Ed Begley. Joseph Sweeney and George Voskovec got to repeat the roles they originated. Lumet’s expert direction of the tense drama earned him his first Oscar nomination. The film was also nominated for Best Picture and Adapted Screenplay.
LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT (1962)
Eugene O’Neill’s semi-autobiographical play opened on Broadway in 1956 with Jose Quintero directing Fredric March, Florence Eldredge, Jason Robards (Jr.) and Bradford Dillman as the fictional Tyrones. Lumet turned it into a vehicle for Katharine Hepburn as Mary Tyrone, the drug addicted wife and mother. Despite this, all three of Hepburn’s co-stars, Ralph Richardson, Robards and Dean Stockwell, manage to shine. Hepburn won the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival, while the other three shared the Best Actor award for which Lumet was nominated for the Golden Palm. Hepburn received the film’s only Oscar nomination.
MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (1974)
Sandwiched between two gritty Al Pacino classics, Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon, Lumet lightened up with this all-star-cast film of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. Though filmed many times, no version of Christie’s novel has ever had the star power that this one had. All but one of the film’s many stars is given a major star entrance – from Albert Finney to Lauren Bacall to Sean Connery to Vanessa Redgrave to Jacqueline Bisset to Michael York to John Gielgud to Wendy Hiller to Rachel Roberts to Richard Widmark to Anthony Perkins. The exception is the Ingrid Bergman who steals the film, and wins her third Oscar in the bargain.
NETWORK (1976)
A farce on the surface, this film about a TV network’s cynical treatment of a deranged newsman to win the ratings war has proved amazingly prophetic over the years. We have long since become accustomed to screaming male broadcasters in the wake of Peter Finch’s “mad as hell” loon riling up viewers. Strident women, though, as personified by Faye Dunaway’s win-at-all-costs executive have been less frequently seen since then. Finch, Dunaway and Beatrice Straight as levelheaded executive William Holden’s betrayed wife, all won Oscars for their performances, while Holden and Lumet had to be content with nominations.
THE VERDICT (1982)
Easily the best of Lumet’s late-career films, The Verdict also provided Paul Newman with his strongest role in years as an alcoholic has-been lawyer who is redeemed by a seemingly no-win case in which he takes on the Catholic Church in a medical malpractice case. James Mason as his courtroom adversary, Jack Warden as his assistant, and Milo O’Shea as the defendant-leaning judge also turn in impeccable performances. For Lumet and Mason, it would be the last film for which they would receive Oscar nominations. For Newman, it would be his last nomination before he finally won with his next nomination for 1986’s The Color Money.
SIDNEY LUMET AND OSCAR
12 Angry Men (1957) – Best Director
Dog Day Afternoon (1975) – Best Director
Network (1976) – Best Director
Prince and the City (1981) – Best Adapted Screenplay
The Verdict (1982) – Best Director
Honorary Award (2005)
