From correspondents in California, United States, 03:01 AM IST

US director and Oscar winner Sydney Pollack died Monday at age 73, the Los Angeles Times reported on its website, citing the filmmaker's friend and spokesman, Leslee Dart.

He had been battling cancer and died at his Los Angeles homes.

Pollack won the 1985 Academy Award for best director for "Out of Africa", the story of a white woman living in Kenya for decades. The award followed his best-director Oscar nominations for the Depression-era drama "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" in 1969 and "Tootsie", a gender-bending 1982 comedy.

Pollack was best known for tense dramas, often political or legal thrillers. He regularly appeared as a character actor in his own and other films.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)