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Sidney Lumet
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Sidney Lumet (loo-MET; born June 25, 1924) is an Academy Award winning American film director, with over 50 films to his name, including the critically acclaimed 12 Angry Men (1957), Serpico (1973), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Network (1976) and The Verdict (1982), all of which, except for Serpico (1973), earned him Academy Award nominations for Best Director.
According to The Encyclopedia of Hollywood, Lumet is one of the most prolific directors of the modern era.
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Encyclopedia
Sidney Lumet (loo-MET; born June 25, 1924) is an Academy Award winning American film director, with over 50 films to his name, including the critically acclaimed 12 Angry Men (1957), Serpico (1973), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Network (1976) and The Verdict (1982), all of which, except for Serpico (1973), earned him Academy Award nominations for Best Director.
According to The Encyclopedia of Hollywood, Lumet is one of the most prolific directors of the modern era. He has made more than one movie per year on average since his directorial debut in 1957. He is noted for his ability to draw major actors to his projects which has allowed him to make many ambitious movies for over fifty years.
One of his steady themes during his career has been the "fragility of justice and the police and their corruption," according to Thomson’s Biographical Dictionary of Film. He can deliver "powerhouse performances from lead actors," and fine work from character actors and is today one of the foremost figures of New York moviemaking. His sensitivity to actors and to the rhythms of the city have made him "America’s longest-lived descendant of the 1950s Neorealist tradition and its urgent commitment to ethical responsibility."
Lumet began as an off-Broadway director, then became a highly efficient TV director. His first movie was typical of his best work: a well-acted, tightly written, deeply considered "problem picture," 12 Angry Men (1957). Since then, Lumet has divided his energies among other idealistic problem pictures along with literate adaptations of plays and novels, big stylish pictures, and New York-based black comedies. As a result of directing Twelve Angry Men, he is also responsible for leading the first wave of directors who made a successful transition from TV to movies.
He is considered to be one of the most reliable and dependable talents of the last half-century. As a result, in 2005 he received an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement for his "brilliant services to screenwriters, performers, and the art of the motion picture."
Early years
Lumet was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on June 25, 1924. He studied theater acting at the Professional Children's School, of New York and Columbia University.
His parents were Baruch Lumet and Eugenia Wermus, both veteran players of the Yiddish stage. His father was an actor, director, producer and writer, while his mother was a dancer. His mother passed away when he was still a child. Lumet made his professional debut on radio at age four and stage debut at the Yiddish Art Theatre at five. As a child he also appeared in many Broadway plays, including Dead end. In 1935 at age 11, Lumet appeared in a Henry Lynn short film, Papirossen co-produced by radio star Herman Yablokoff. The film was shown in a theatrical play with the same title, based on a hit song, Papirosn. The play and short film appeared in the Bronx McKinley Square Theatre.
In 1939 he made his only feature-length film appearance, at age 15, in One Third of a Nation. In 1939, World War II interrupted his early acting career, and he spent three years with the U.S. army.
After returning from World War II service (1942–46) as a radar repairman stationed in India and Burma, he organized an off-Broadway group and became its director. He also directed in Summer stock theatre and taught acting in the High School of Professional Arts.
Personal life
His first wife was actress Rita Gam (1949-54); his second, was socialite Gloria Vanderbilt (1956-63); his third, Gail Jones (1963-78), who was the daughter of singer-actress Lena Horne; and his fourth marriage was to Mary Gimbel (1980 - present). His marriage to Gail Jones produced two daughters, Amy, who was married briefly (1990-1993) to P.J. O'Rourke, and actress/screenwriter Jenny who had a leading role in his film Q & A. She also wrote the screenplay for the 2008 film Rachel Getting Married.
Career in directing
Early career
Lumet began his career as a director with Off-Broadway productions and then evolved into a highly respected TV director. After gaining valuable experience working Off-Broadway and in summer stock, he began to direct in the new medium of television in 1950. In his six years as a TV director of such top-notch showcases as Alcoa Theater and Goodyear Playhouse, Lumet "gained a considerable reputation for being talented and resourceful." Because the quality of many of the television dramas was so impressive, several of them were adapted as motion pictures.
His first movie was typical of his best work: "a well-acted, tightly written, deeply considered 'problem picture,' 12 Angry Men (1957)." Writes film historian Stephen Bowles, "Twelve Angry Men was an auspicious beginning for Lumet. It was a critical and commercial success and established Lumet as a director skilled at adapting theatrical properties to motion pictures. Fully half of Lumet's complement of films have originated in the theater. Another precedent set by Twelve Angry Men was Lumet's career-long disdain for Hollywood."
After that, he divided his energies among other idealistic problem pictures, adaptations of plays and novels, big stylish pictures, tense melodramas, and New York-based black comedies dealing with society and American culture.
As a result of directing his first film, Twelve Angry Men, according to Siegel's Encyclopedia of Hollywood, "he led the first wave of directors who made a successful transition from TV to movies."
He later directed another controversial show in 1960, for which he gained notoriety: The Sacco-Vanzetti Story on NBC; According to the NY Times, "the drama drew flack from the state of Massachusetts (where Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were tried and executed) because it was thought to postulate that the condemned murderers were, in fact, wholly innocent. But the brouhaha actually did Lumet more good than harm, sending several prestigious film assignments his way, including his 1962 artistic triumph Long Day's Journey Into Night."
Because he started his career as an actor, he has become known as an "actor's director," and he has worked with the best of them over the years, a roster probably unequaled by any other director."
Directing style and subjects
According to film historians Gerald Mast and Bruce Kawin, Lumet’s "sensitivity to actors and to the rhythms of the city have made him America’s longest-lived descendant of the 1950s Neorealist tradition and its urgent commitment to ethical responsibility." They cite his early film The Hill (1965) as "one of the most politically and morally radical films of the 1960s."
They add that beneath the social conflicts of Lumet’s films lies the "conviction that love and reason will eventually prevail in human affairs," and that "law and justice will eventually be served – or not.” His debut film, Twelve Angry Men, was an acclaimed picture in its day: it was a model for liberal reason and fellowship in the Eisenhower era; or maybe it was an alarming example of how easily any jury could be swayed.” The film and its director were nominated for Academy Awards. Lumet won the Director’s Guild Award and the film was widely praised by critics.
The Encyclopedia of World Biography states that his films often feature actors who studied "Method acting", "characterized by an earthy, introspective style. A leading example of such "Method" actors would be Al Pacino, who, early in his career, studied under Method acting guru Lee Strasberg. Lumet is also prefers the appearance of spontaneity in both his actors and settings, an "improvisational look achieved by shooting much of his work on location."
Character development
According to biographer Joanna Rapf, Lumet has always been an "independent director," and liked to make films about "men who summon courage to challenge the system, about the little guy against the system." This also includes the women characters in his films, such as Garbo Talks. "Anne Bancroft embodies the kind of character to whom Lumet is attracted: a committed activist for all kinds of causes, who standsa up for the rights of the oppressed, who is lively, outspoken, courageous, who refuses to conform for the sake of convenience, and whose understanding of life allows her to die with dignity.... Garbo Talks in many ways is a valentine to New York."
Throughout a 2006 interview, he reiterated that "he is fascinated by the human cost involved in following passions and commitments, and the cost those passions and commitments inflict on others." This theme is at the "core" of most of his movies, notes Rapf, "including his stories of corruption in the New York police department and family dramas such as in Daniel.
Psychodramas
According to film historian Stephen Bowles, he has proven himself "most comfortable and effective as a director of serious psychodramas and was most vulnerable when attempting light entertainments. His Academy Award nominations, for example, have all been for character studies of men in crisis, from his first film, Twelve Angry Men, to The Verdict. Lumet was, literally, a child of the drama." He notes that "nearly all the characters in Lumet's gallery are driven by obsessions or passions that range from the pursuit of justice, honesty, and truth to the clutches of jealousy, memory, or guilt. It is not so much the object of their fixations but the obsessive condition itself that intrigues Lumet."
Therefore, Bowles adds, "Lumet's protagonists tend to be isolated, unexceptional men who oppose a group or institution. Whether the protagonist is a member of a jury or party to a bungled robbery, he follows his instincts and intuition in an effort to find solutions. Lumet's most important criterion is not whether the actions of these men are right or wrong but whether the actions are genuine. If these actions are justified by the individual's conscience, this gives his heroes uncommon strength and courage to endure the pressures, abuses, and injustices of others. Frank Serpico, for example, is the quintessential Lumet hero in his defiance of peer group authority and the assertion of his own code of moral values." Lumet in his autobiography described the film Serpico as "a portrait of a real rebel with a cause."
Issues of social justice
"As a child of the Depression," writes Joanna Rapf, "growing up poor in New York City with poverty and corruption all around him, Lumet became concerned with the importance of justice to a democracy. He says he likes questioning things, people, institutions, what is considered by society as 'right' and 'wrong.'" He admits, however, that he does not believe that art itself has the power to change anything. "There is, as he says, a lot of 'shit' to deal with in the entertainment industry, but the secret of good work is to maintain your honesty and your passion."
Film historian David Thomson writes "He has steady themes: the fragility of justice, and the police and their corruption.". He adds, "Lumet quickly became esteemed…[and he] got a habit for big issues – Fail-Safe, The Pawnbroker, The Hill, – and seemed torn between dullness and pathos. … Network …was the closest he had come to a successful comedy. He was that rarity of the 1970s, a director happy to serve his material—yet seemingly not touched or changed by it."
Lumet, discussing one of his primary film subjects, police corruption, described his feelings for film magazine, Cinema Nation:
- "I have just finished a movie called Prince of the City. It’s a long, complex film and one of the most difficult and satisfying movies I’ve ever made. It’s about a cop informing on other cops. . . [It’s] not only about informing, however. It is also about cops and the complexity of their lives. I’ve known a lot of cops, most of whom join the force with a good deal of idealism. They wind up with the highest suicide and alcoholism rates of any profession."
New York settings
Lumet always prefers to work in New York, notes Lumet biographer Joanna Rapf, "shunning the dominance of Hollywood. Like Woody Allen, he defines himself as a New Yorker." "I always like being in Woody Allen's world," he said. He claims "the diversity of the City, its many ethnic neighborhoods, its art and its crime, its sophistication and its corruption, its beauty and its ugliness, all feed into what inspires him." He feels that in order to create it's important to confront reality on a daily basis. For Lumet, "New York is filled with reality; Hollywood is a fantasyland."
He used New York time and again as the backdrop—if not the symbol—of his "preoccupation with America’s decline," according to film historians Scott and Barbara Siegel. In discussing the significance of urban settings to Lumet, Bowles notes, "Within this context, Lumet is consistently attracted to situations in which crime provides the occasion for a group of characters to come together. Typically these characters are caught in a vortex of events they can neither understand nor control but which they must work to resolve."
In a 2007 interview with New York Magazine, he was asked, "Almost all of your films—from The Pawnbroker to your latest—have an intense level of that famous New York grit. Is being streetwise really such a difference between us and Hollywood?" Lumet replied: "In L.A., there’s no streets! No sense of a neighborhood! They talk about us not knowing who lives in the same apartment complex as us—bullshit! I know who lives in my building. In L.A., how much can you really find out about anybody else? ... Really, it’s just about human contact. It seems to me that our greatest problems today are coming out of the increasing isolation of people, everywhere."
Directing techniques
Lumet has always preferred naturalism and/or realism, according to Joanna Rapf. He does not like the "decorator's look"; rarely does he want "the camera to call attention to itself; the editing must be unobtrusive." His cinematographer, Ron Fortunato, said "Sidney flips if he sees a look that's too artsy."
Partly because he has been willing and able to take on so many significant social issues and problems, "he can deliver powerhouse performances from lead actors, and fine work from character actors," writes film historian Thomson. He is "one of the stalwart figures of New York moviemaking. He abides by good scripts, when he gets them."
According to Katz's Film Encyclopedia, “Although critical evaluation of Lumet’s work wavered widely from film to film, on the whole the director’s body of work has been held in high esteem. Critical opinion has generally viewed him as a sensitive and intelligent director who possesses considerable good taste, the courage to experiment with a variety of techniques and styles, and an uncommon gift for handling actors."
In a quote from his book, Lumet emphasized the logistics of directing:
- "Someone once asked me what making a movie was like. I said it was like making a mosaic. Each setup is like a tiny tile (a setup, the basic component of a film’s production, consists of one camera position and its associated lighting). You color it, shape it, polish it as best you can. You’ll do six or seven hundred of these, maybe a thousand. (There can easily be that many setups in a movie.) Then you literally paste them together and hope it’s what you set out to do."
In 1970, Lumet said, “If you’re a director, then you’ve got to direct…. I don’t believe that you should sit back and wait until circumstances are perfect before you and it’s all gorgeous and marvelous…. I never did a picture because I was hungry…. Every picture I did was an active, believable, passionate wish. Every picture I did I wanted to do…. I’m having a good time.”
Lumet, in a statement posted on IMDB, said, “If I don't have a script I adore, I do one I like. If I don't have one I like, I do one that has an actor I like or that presents some technical challenge.”
Vision of future films
In the same interview with NY Magazine, when asked what he foresaw as the next wave of filmmaking, he responded, "Well, we were shooting out in Astoria, and one day I was watching all these kids standing outside a school near the studio. It was just marvelous: Indian girls in saris, kids from Pakistan, Korea, kids from all over. So I think you’ll see more directors from these communities, telling their stories. You know, I started out making films about Jews and Italians and Irish because I didn’t know anything else."
Legacy
According to film historian Bowles, Lumet has succeeded in becoming a leading drama filmmaker partly because "his most important criterion [when directing] is not whether the actions of his protagonists are right or wrong, but whether their actions are genuine." And where those actions are "justified by the individual's conscience, this gives his heroes uncommon strength and courage to endure the pressures, abuses, and injustices of others." His films have thereby continually given us the "quintessential hero acting in defiance of peer group authority and asserting his own code of moral values."
Lumet's published memoir about his life in film, Making Movies (1996), is "extremely lighthearted and infectious in its enthusiasm for the craft of moviemaking itself," writes Bowles, "and is in marked contrast to the tone and style of most of his films. Perhaps Lumet's signature as a director is his work with actors—and his exceptional ability to draw high-quality, sometimes extraordinary performances from even the most unexpected quarters" Jake Coyle, Associated Press writer, agrees: "While Lumet has for years gone relatively underappreciated, actors have consistently turned in some of their most memorable performances under his stewardship. From Katharine Hepburn to Faye Dunaway, Henry Fonda to Paul Newman, Lumet was known as an actor's director."
Academy of Motion Pictures President Frank Pierson said, "Lumet is one of the most important film directors in the history of American cinema, and his work has left an indelible mark on both audiences and the history of film itself." And James Verniere, of the Boston Herald wrote, "At a time when the American film industry is intent on seeing how low it can go, Sidney Lumet remains a master of the morally complex American drama."
Film author Joanna Rapf, completing her interviews with Lumet in 2006, wrote, "Still intensely energetic, youthful, and passionate about life, ... [he seeks out] 'real' people, and 'real' situations, and the stories he can tell about them, 'human, honest and occasionally illustrative of some major point about living."
Quotes by others
- "Would that there were more true heroes willing to stand up to the absurd received thinking in Hollywood regarding scripts, casting and storytelling." -- Craig Lucas (Screenwriter)
- "What amazes me about Lumet is his enduring intellectual vigor. While most of the other lions of the '70s were taking paychecks for commercial flotsam in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Lumet was still making movies with social ambition: Prince of the City, The Verdict, Running on Empty, Q&A, Night Falls on Manhattan... he never stopped looking for stories about flaws in the human condition. Few have mastered the medium as well as Lumet, and here’s the best part: he ain’t done yet." -- Jack Mathews (Film critic, New York Daily News)
- "Lumet has brought you so completely into the world and point-of-view of the main characters that you understand and accept it all. He's one of the few directors who can blur the line between the everyday insanity we encounter and the over-the-top possibilities of drama, showing that there's not always a difference. Gregg Goldstein (Journalist, The Hollywood Reporter)
- "Though he’s made films in Europe and Hollywood, Sidney Lumet is the heart and soul of New York City filmmaking. ... I greatly respect that he’s almost always made movies for audiences, not for the critics. Lou Lumenick (Chief film critic, New York Post)
- "...the thing that is the most special about Lumet is his taste. He finds the most extraordinary writing and then gets actors who will be challenged to do career-best work in it -- really image-changing work from Paul Newman, Al Pacino, Treat Williams, Nick Nolte, Faye Dunaway, Bill Holden, Ned Beatty, Rod Steiger, Dustin Hoffman, Vin Diesel, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei and many others. And that doesn't touch the simply amazing performances and ensemble work in films of real substance that he has chosen to make." -- David Poland (Editor, )
- "... I doubt that anyone else will soon supplant him. He is the master of cinematic pressure-cooking; in 12 Angry Men, Failsafe, The Hill, Murder on the Orient Express, Dog Day Afternoon, Network, Equus, and on and on, he takes his characters hostage, placing a group of particular people under duress in a confined space as the clock ticks -- always with a surprisingly cathartic result. And the man is still working. Amazing! Lee,
- "When it comes to those New York crime movies, Lumet's the only director I can think of who can actually make pure efficiency thrilling." Karina Longworth (Editor, SpoutBlog)
Filmography
| Year | Film title | Oscar
nominations | Wins | Leading cast | Watch clips | | 1957 | 12 Angry Men | 3 | . | Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb | . | | 1958 | Stage Struck | . | . | Henry Fonda, Susan Strasberg | . | | 1959 | That Kind of Woman | . | . | Sophia Loren, Tab Hunter . | . | | The Fugitive Kind | . | . | Marlon Brando, Joanne Woodward,
Anna Magnani | | | 1961 | A View from the Bridge | . | . | Raf Vallone, Jean Sorel . | . | | 1962 | Long Day's Journey Into Night | 1 | . | Katharine Hepburn, Ralph Richardson,
Jason Robards | | | 1964 | The Pawnbroker | 1 | . | Rod Steiger, Geraldine Fitzgerald | . | | Fail-Safe | . | . | Henry Fonda, Dan O'Herlihy,
Walter Matthau | | | 1965 | The Hill | . | . | Sean Connery, Harry Andrews | | | 1966 | The Group | . | . | Candice Bergen, Joan Hackett | . | | 1967 | The Deadly Affair | . | . | James Mason, Harry Andrews | | | 1968 | Bye Bye Braverman | . | . | George Segal, Jack Warden | . | | The Sea Gull | . | . | Vanessa Redgrave, Simone Signoret | . | | 1969 | The Appointment | . | . | Omar Sharif, Anouk Aimée | . | | 1970 | King: A Filmed Record...
Montgomery to Memphis | 1 | . | Narration: Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward | . | | Last of the Mobile Hot Shots | . | . | Lynn Redgrave, James Coburn | . | | 1971 | The Anderson Tapes | . | . | Sean Connery, Dyan Cannon,
Martin Balsam | . | | 1972 | Child's Play | . | . | James Mason, Robert Preston | . | | The Offence | . | . | Sean Connery, Trevor Howard | . | | 1973 | Serpico | 2 | . | Al Pacino | | | 1974 | Lovin' Molly | . | . | Anthony Perkins, Beau Bridges | . | | Murder on the Orient Express | 6 | 1 | Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall,
Sean Connery, Ingrid Bergman | | | 1975 | Dog Day Afternoon | 6 | 1 | Al Pacino, John Cazale | | | 1976 | Network | 10 | 4 | Faye Dunaway, William Holden,
Peter Finch, Robert Duvall, Ned Beatty |
| | 1977 | Equus | 3 | . | Richard Burton | . | | 1978 | The Wiz | 4 | . | Diana Ross, Michael Jackson | . | | 1980 | Just Tell Me What You Want | . | . | Alan King, Ali MacGraw | . | | 1981 | Prince of the City | 1 | . | Treat Williams, Jerry Orbach | | | 1982 | The Verdict | 5 | . | Paul Newman, Jack Warden | | | Deathtrap | . | . | Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve,
Dyan Cannon | . | | 1983 | Daniel | . | . | Timothy Hutton, Mandy Patinkin | | | 1984 | Garbo Talks | . | . | Anne Bancroft, Ron Silver | | | 1986 | Power | . | . | Richard Gere, Julie Christie,
Gene Hackman | . | | The Morning After | 1 | . | Jane Fonda, Jeff Bridges | . | | 1988 | Running on Empty | 2 | . | River Phoenix, Judd Hirsch | | | 1989 | Family Business | . | . | Sean Connery, Dustin Hoffman | . | | 1990 | Q & A | . | . | Timothy Hutton, Nick Nolte,
Armand Assante | | | 1992 | A Stranger Among Us | . | . | Melanie Griffith, John Pankow | . | | 1993 | Guilty as Sin | . | . | Don Johnson, Rebecca De Mornay | . | | 1997 | Night Falls on Manhattan | . | . | Andy Garcia, Ian Holm,
Lena Olin, Richard Dreyfuss | | | Critical Care | . | . | James Spader, Kyra Sedgwick | . | | 1999 | Gloria | . | . | Sharon Stone, George C. Scott | . | | 2004 | Strip Search | . | . | Glenn Close, Maggie Gyllenhaal | . | | 2006 | Find Me Guilty | . | . | Vin Diesel, Alex Rocco | . | | 2007 | Before the Devil Knows You're Dead | . | . | Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke,
Albert Finney | | | 2009 | Getting Out | . | . | . | . | |
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