Wednesday, June 17, 2026

Sidney Lumet, Famed Director, Dead at 86

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Sidney Lumet, the great and famed director of such classic films as “Serpico,” “Network,” “Prince of the City,” and “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead,” has passed away from lymphoma at age 86. Lumet had been ill for some time, and people in the New York film community had been visiting with him for weeks to keep his spirits up. You may recall a piece I wrote during Oscar week about Lumet. I knew he was gravely ill, but his family had asked me not to say anything. I knew Sidney a long time, and, as with my friend Robert Altman, admired him. He leave a terrific family including his screenwriter daughter Jenny. Here’s a link to the piece from February. Sidney, New York loved you and vice versa. You will be sorely missed.

http://www.showbiz411.com/2011/02/28/sidney-lumet-thinking-of-a-film-great-who-never-won-an-oscar

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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