Director Sidney Lumet Dead at 86

Sidney Lumet, the filmmaker whose sincere, sensitive work with a stunning cross-section of actors and writers yielded some of the most enduring films of the last 50 years, died this morning at his home in New York City. He was 86.

According to his family, the cause of death was lymphoma.

Lumet's final film, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, was released in 2007, a half-century after he made his debut with the jury-room classic 12 Angry Men. In between, Lumet directed such films as The Pawnbroker, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Network and The Verdict, along the way applying his own training as an actor to handling such icons as Henry Fonda, Marlon Brando, Katharine Hepburn, William Holden, Al Pacino and Paul Newman. He earned four Oscar nominations for directing and one for screenwriting (for Prince of the City, a nod Lumet shared with Jay Presson Allen), finally receiving the prize when the Academy gave him an honorary award in 2005.

Stay tuned to Movieline today for more about Lumet's life, career and legacy...

[NYT]