Sydney Pollack, the critically acclaimed Academy Award-winning director of ‘Out of Africa’ and ‘Tootsie’, died of cancer Monday, US media reported. He was 73.

The director and producer, who made several Hollywood blockbusters over a decades-long career which saw him work with A-list stars such as Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Dustin Hoffman and Nicole Kidman, died in Pacific Palisades surrounded by family, trade magazine Variety reported.