Sydney Pollack found mainstream success with smart films for grown-ups—a rarity today.

In thrillers, romances and comedies, his movies were intelligent and often dealt with social issues. They call such movies “independent” nowadays; Pollack could craft them into hits.

“The middle ground is now gone,” he told New Perspectives Quarterly in 1998. “It is not impossible to make mainstream films which are really good. Costa-Gavras once said that accidents can happen.”

Movies today tend to come as either blockbusters aimed at the younger demographics or smaller, stylized art-house works—which typically fail to make money. Pollack did neither.

Pollack, diagnosed with cancer about nine months ago, died Monday afternoon, surrounded by family, at his home in Los Angeles, said publicist Leslee Dart. He was 73.

In a tireless career spanning nearly five decades, Pollack distinguished himself as a true professional: a director, a producer and an actor. His greatest successes as a director—1982’s “Tootsie” and 1985’s “Out of Africa”—came years ago, but he showed no signs of slowing down.

He was executive producer of the new HBO film “Recount” about the 2000 presidential election, and he produced two high-profile films not yet in theaters: Kenneth Lonergan’s “Margaret” and Stephen Daldry’s “The Reader.”

On Tuesday, Hollywood mourned the loss of the well-liked, prolific filmmaker. He had worked with seemingly every A-list star in the business, from Robert Mitchum to Al Pacino. But Pollack collaborated with Robert Redford more than any other—seven films, including “Out of Africa,” 1973’s “The Way We Were,” 1975’s “Three Days of the Condor” and 1979’s “The Electric Horseman.”

“Sydney’s and my relationship both professionally and personally covers 40 years,” Redford said. “It’s too personal to express in a sound bite.”

Barbra Streisand, who starred alongside Redford in “The Way We Were,” said: “He knew how to tell a love story. He was a great actor’s director because he was a great actor.”

Tom Cruise, whom Pollack directed in 1993’s “The Firm” and with whom Pollack memorably acted in Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut” (1999), said: “Throughout the years, unpretentious and never condescending, he shared with me what he loved about family, storytelling, food, flying and a great bottle of vino. He was a Renaissance man and a great friend.”

“They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?”—the 1969 film about Depression-era marathon dancers—received nine Oscar nominations, including one for Pollack’s direction. He was nominated again for best director for 1982’s “Tootsie,” starring Dustin Hoffman as a cross-dressing actor and Pollack as the exasperated agent who tells him: “I begged you to get some therapy.”

As director and producer, he won Academy Awards for the romantic epic “Out of Africa,” which captured seven Oscars in all.

Last fall, Pollack played law firm boss Marty Bach opposite George Clooney in “Michael Clayton,” which he also co-produced. It received seven Oscar nominations.