Biography
Sidney Lumet (June 25, 1924 – April 9, 2011) was an American director, producer and screenwriter with over 50 films to his name. He was nominated for the Academy Award as Best Director for 12 Angry Men (1957), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Network (1976) and The Verdict (1982). He did not win an individual Academy Award, although he did receive an Academy Honorary Award and 14 of his films were nominated for various Oscars, such as Network, which was nominated for 10, winning 4. The Encyclopedia of...
Known For
Complete Filmography
One Step Further: Becoming Lumet
2023
as Self
An all-new documentary detailing the first half of this celebrated filmmaker’s career; from his early beginnings as director for television, to the re...

The Enigmatic Charlotte Rampling
2023
as Self (archive footage)
Screen icon Charlotte Rampling has fascinated the world of cinema, fashion and photography with her mysterious and almost inaccessible beauty. A major...

Paul Newman: The Restless
2023
as Self - Interviewee (archive footage)
Multi-talented, Paul Newman is one of the greatest American actors of all time. With his silhouette of a Greek statue and his unreal blue eyes, he emb...

Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall
2016
as Self (archive footage)
Director Spike Lee chronicles Michael Jackson's early rise to fame.

By Sidney Lumet
2015
as Self
An analysis of director Sidney Lumet's work (12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon, Before The Devil Knows You're Dead) in his own words, based on a five-da...

And the Oscar Goes To...
2014
as Self (archive footage)
The story of the gold-plated statuette that became the film industry's most coveted prize, AND THE OSCAR GOES TO... traces the history of the Academy ...

In Her Skin
2009
Consulting Producer
Tale of a 15-year-old Australian girl who went missing.

I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale
2009
as Self
John Cazale was in only five films – The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather: Part II, Dog Day Afternoon and The Deer Hunter – each was nominat...

You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story
2008
as Self
Jack L. Warner, Harry Warner, Albert Warner and Sam Warner were siblings who were born in Poland and emigrated to Canada near the turn of the century....

Directed by Sidney Lumet: How the Devil Was Made
2008
as Self
An involved behind-the-scenes documentary that focuses on the High Definition cameras used for the movie as well as intimate interviews with the cast ...

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt: Making '12 Angry Men'
2008
as Self
A making of featurette of 12 Angry Men made exclusively for the Collector's Edition DVD.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
2007
Director
When two brothers organize the robbery of their parents' jewelry store, the job goes horribly wrong, triggering a series of events that send them and ...

Prince of the City: The Real Story
2007
as Self
The true story behind the Prince of the City.

Eugene O’Neill: A Documentary Film
2006
as Self
Eugene O'Neill tells the haunting story of the life and work of America's greatest and only Nobel Prize-winning playwright -- set within the context o...

Find Me Guilty
2006
Director, Screenplay
Based on the true story of Jack DiNorscio, a mobster who defended himself in court for what would be the longest mafia trial in U.S. history.

The Making of 'Dog Day Afternoon'
2006
as Self
A documentary chronicling the making of the 1975 film "Dog Day Afternoon."

The Making of 'Network'
2006
as Self
An engrossing feature-length documentary about the making of Sidney Lumet's classic film "Network."

Making 'Murder on the Orient-Express'
2004
as Self
This featurette takes a closer look at the production history of Murder on the Orient Express. Included in it are clips from archival interviews with ...
Rachel, When the Lord
2004
Director
A passionate performance of "Rachel, quand du Seigneur" (Rachel, when the Lord...), a celebrated aria from the Fromental Halévy's famous opera "La Jui...

The Manchurian Candidate
2004
as Political Pundit
Years after his squad was ambushed during the Gulf War, Major Ben Marco finds himself having terrible nightmares. He begins to doubt that his fellow s...

Strip Search
2004
Director
Strip Search follows several parallel stories examining personal freedoms vs. national security in the aftermath of 9/11; two main subplots involve an...

Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust
2004
as Self
Daniel Anker’s 90-minute documentary takes on over 60 years of a very complex subject: Hollywood’s complicated, often contradictory relationship with ...

The Education of Gore Vidal
2003
as Self
A contrarian and wickedly funny man, this PBS American Masters special explores Gore Vidal's extraordinary life and work, joining him at his cliff-sid...

The Evolution of an American Filmmaker
2003
as Self
Spike Lee's filmmaking career is examined in this partial making-of for the film 25th Hour (2002). Interviews with cast members from this film and his...

A Decade Under the Influence
2003
as Self
A documentary examining the decade of the 1970s as a turning point in American cinema. Some of today's best filmmakers interview the influential direc...

Inside 'Serpico'
2002
as Self
In this documentary about the classic film "Serpico," Sidney Lumet and Martin Bregman discuss the logistics of production and post-production, as well...

Serpico: From Real to Reel
2002
as Self
In separate interviews about the classic film "Serpico," director Sidney Lumet and producer Martin Bregman discuss the genesis of the project, the evo...
New York at the Movies
2002
as Self
Meryl Streep conducts us to a trip to New York City as presented in many films during the 20th Century, and how its cultural importance and impact are...

The Tramp and the Dictator
2002
as Self (uncredited)
A look at the parallel lives of Charlie Chaplin and Adolf Hitler and how they crossed with the creation of the film “The Great Dictator,” released in ...

Dziga and His Brothers
2002
as Self
The fascinating and tumultuous lives of Mikhail, Boris and Denis Kaufman (better known as Dziga Vertov) are the focus of this powerful documentary. Us...

Revisiting 'Fail-Safe'
2000
as Self
Documentary featuring interviews with director Sidney Lumet, "Fail-Safe" (2000) producer George Clooney, star Dan O’Herlihy and screenwriter Walter Be...

Inside: 'Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb'
2000
as Self - Director, 'Fail Safe'
A documentary on the making of Stanley Kubrick's classic 1964 film.

Gloria
1999
Director
After serving a prison term for her boyfriend, a streetwise, middle-aged moll named Gloria stands up against the mobs, which is complicated by a six-y...

Anthony Perkins: A Life in the Shadows
1999
as Self
The life of legendary actor Anthony Perkins is recounted by friends and family, colleagues and co-stars, revealing the man underneath Norman Bates.

Intimate Portrait: Sean Connery
1998
as Self
Oscar-winning actor Sean Connery is profiled in this segment of "Intimate Portrait." Includes film clips, never-before-seen photos and interviews with

Critical Care
1997
Director, Producer
Werner Ernst is a young hospital resident who becomes embroiled in a legal battle between two half-sisters who are fighting over the care of their com...

Night Falls on Manhattan
1997
Screenplay, Director
A newly elected District attorney finds himself in the middle of a police corruption investigation that may involve his father and his partner.

Guilty as Sin
1993
Director
Before a criminal lawyer knows what has happened, she is forced to defend a wife killer she knows is guilty.

A Stranger Among Us
1992
Director
Detective Emily Eden is a tough New York City cop forced to go undercover to solve a puzzling murder. Her search for the truth takes her into a secret...
Fonda on Fonda
1992
as Self
Jane Fonda hosts a tribute to her father.

Night of 100 Stars III
1990
as Self
A celebrity benefit for The Actors' Fund of America, featuring music, songs, dance and comedy.

Q & A
1990
Screenplay, Director
A young district attorney seeking to prove a case against a corrupt police detective encounters a former lover and her new protector, a crime boss who...

William Holden: The Golden Boy
1989
as Self
It was said of him that in more than 70 films, he never once gave a bad performance.

Family Business
1989
Director
Jessie is an aging career criminal who has been in more jails, fights, schemes, and lineups than just about anyone else. His son Vito, while currently...

Running on Empty
1988
Director
The Popes are a family who haven't been able to use their real identity for years. In the late sixties, the parents set a weapons lab afire in an effo...

Funny
1988
as Self
People are asked to tell their favorite jokes.

The Morning After
1986
Director
Failed actress Alex Sternbergen wakes up hungover one morning in an apartment she does not recognize, unable to remember the previous evening -- and w...

Power
1986
Director
Pete St. John is a powerful and successful political consultant, with clients spread around the country. When his long-time friend and client Ohio sen...

Garbo Talks
1984
Director
When New York accountant Gilbert Rolfe finds out his mother has a brain tumor, he is devastated. His incorrigible mother, Estelle, has one last wish: ...

Daniel
1983
Director, Executive Producer
The fictionalized story of Daniel, the son of Paul and Rochelle Isaacson, who were executed as Soviet spies in the 1950s. As a graduate student in New...

The Verdict
1982
Director
Frank Galvin is a down-on-his-luck lawyer and reduced to drinking and ambulance chasing, when a former associate reminds him of his obligations in a m...

Deathtrap
1982
Director
A Broadway playwright puts murder in his plan to take credit for a student's script.
The Making of 'Tootsie'
1982
as Self
Behind-the-scenes documentary on the set of Sydney Pollack's 1982 film "Tootsie."

Prince of the City
1981
Screenplay, Director
New York City detective Daniel Ciello agrees to help the United States Department of Justice help eliminate corruption in the police department, as lo...

Just Tell Me What You Want
1980
Director, Producer
A television producer woman tries to let down her overbearing boyfriend who is her boss. She wants to marry with a young writer.

The Wiz
1978
Director
Dorothy Gale, a shy kindergarten teacher, is swept away to the magic land of Oz where she embarks on a quest to return home.

Wiz on Down the Road
1978
as Self - Director
A short promotional film on the making of “The Wiz” (1978). Includes a brief history of Oz portrayals in film and behind the scenes interviews.

Equus
1977
Director
A psychiatrist, Martin Dysart, investigates the savage blinding of six horses with a metal spike in a stable in Hampshire, England. The atrocity was c...

Network
1976
Director
When veteran anchorman Howard Beale is forced to retire his 25-year post because of his age, he announces to viewers that he will kill himself during ...

Dog Day Afternoon
1975
Director
Based on the true story of would-be Brooklyn bank robbers John Wojtowicz and Salvatore Naturile. Sonny and Sal attempt a bank heist which quickly turn...

Murder on the Orient Express
1974
Director
In 1935, when his train is stopped by deep snow, detective Hercule Poirot is called on to solve a murder that occurred in his car the night before.

Lovin' Molly
1974
Director
Spanning nearly 40 years from 1925 to 1964, two Texas farm boys; straight-arrow Gid and laid-back Johnny fight over the affections of the beautiful an...

Serpico
1973
Director
New York cop Frank Serpico blows the whistle on the rampant corruption in the force only to have his comrades turn against him.

The Offence
1973
Director
A burned-out British police detective finally snaps while interrogating a suspected child molester.

Child's Play
1972
Director
At an exclusive boys' school, a new gym teacher is drawn into a feud between two older instructors, and he discovers that everything at the school is ...

The Anderson Tapes
1971
Director
Thief Duke Anderson—just released from ten years in jail—takes up with his old girlfriend in her posh apartment block, and makes plans to rob the enti...

King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis
1970
Director
Constructed from a wealth of archival footage, the documentary follows Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from 1955 to 1968, in his rise from regional activi...

Last of the Mobile Hot Shots
1970
Director, Producer
A new bride gets caught between her decadent husband and his black half-brother.

The Appointment
1969
Director
Lawyer Federico Fendi has reasons to suspect that his fashion model wife Carla is secretly one of Rome's highest paid call-girls.

The Sea Gull
1968
Director, Producer
Film adaptation of Anton Chekhov's story of life in rural Russia during the latter part of the 19th century.

Bye Bye Braverman
1968
Director, Producer
One day, Morroe Rieff learns that his friend and fellow writer, Leslie Braverman, has died. After meeting Leslie's widow, Inez, who is more flirtatiou...

The Deadly Affair
1967
Producer, Director
Charles Dobbs is a British secret agent investigating the apparent suicide of Foreign Office official Samuel Fennan. Dobbs suspects that Fennan's wife...

The Group
1966
Director
It's 1933, and eight young women are friends and members of the upper- class group at a private girl's school, about to graduate and start their own l...
The Sun... the Sand... the Hill
1965
as Self
Promotional film depicting the production and Cannes premiere of the Sidney Lumet film "The Hill."

The Hill
1965
Director
North Africa, World War II. British soldiers on the brink of collapse push beyond endurance to struggle up a brutal incline. It's not a military objec...

The Pawnbroker
1965
Director
A Jewish pawnbroker, a victim of Nazi persecution, loses all faith in his fellow man until he realizes too late the tragedy of his actions.

Fail Safe
1964
Director, Executive Producer
Because of a technical defect an American bomber team mistakenly orders the destruction of Moscow. The President of the United States has but little t...

Long Day's Journey Into Night
1962
Director
An Irish miser, his morphine addicted wife, their debauched older son, and a gravely ill younger son. A quiet Connecticut vacation home on one foggy d...

A View from the Bridge
1962
Director
Eddie Carbone, a Brooklyn longshoreman is unhappily married to Beatrice and unconsciously in love with Catherine, the niece that they have raised from...

Play of the Week: Rashomon
1960
Director
Several different accounts of the same incident tell quite different stories about what happened.

The Iceman Cometh
1960
Director
Theodore Hickman, a hardware salesman, makes by-yearly visits to Harry Hope's 1910-era waterfront bar for his periodical drinking binges. But on this ...

John Brown's Raid
1960
Director
White abolitionist John Brown and twenty of his men attempt to start an armed slave revolt in 1859 by seizing a U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virgini...

The Dybbuk
1960
Director
The Dybbuk is a made for TV film adaptation of a classic Jewish folktale. The story is about a young Jewish man, Sender (Theodore Bikel) who loves a y...

Beyond the Time Barrier
1960
Casting Director
In 1960, a pilot testing an experimental rocket powered aircraft accidentally flies into the future and finds himself in a sealed city whose people su...

The Fugitive Kind
1960
Director
Val Xavier, a drifter of obscure origins, arrives at a small town and gets a job in a store run by Lady Torrence. Her husband, Jabe M. Torrance, is dy...

That Kind of Woman
1959
Director
A young G.I. falls in love with a kept woman on a train to New York.

All the King's Men
1958
Director
The life of populist Southerner Willie Stark, a political creature loosely based on Governor Huey Long of Louisiana, based upon the Robert Penn Warren...

Stage Struck
1958
Director
A young woman arrives in New York City determined to become a great theatrical star, but discovers that her goal may not be as easily attainable as sh...

Three Plays by Tennessee Williams
1958
Director
A presentation of Tennessee Williams' three one-act plays: "Moony's Kid Don't Cry", "The Last of My Solid Gold Watches", and "This Property Is Condemn...

Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates
1958
Director
In Holland, poor but industrious and honorable 15-year-old Hans Brinker and his younger sister yearn to participate in December's great ice skating ra...

Mr. Broadway
1957
Director, Producer
A musical television special chronicling the early career of playwright George M. Cohan, focusing primarily on his vaudeville years as part of his fam...

12 Angry Men
1957
Director
The defense and the prosecution have rested and the jury is filing into the jury room to decide if a young Spanish-American is guilty or innocent of m...

Tragedy in a Temporary Town
1956
Director
Fifteen-year-old girl Dotty Fisher is assaulted at a construction camp. In the wake of this incident, the construction workers form a vigilante group ...

The Challenge
1955
Director
A school bus driver (Jack Warden) is fired by the local school board when he refuses to sign a loyalty oath. This was a pilot for a proposed anthology...

The 400 Million
1939
as Additional Voice (voice)
The 400 million people of China are heirs to a great civilization, as their pagodas and stone lions can attest. But they are under attack from the Jap...

One Third of a Nation
1939
as Joey Rogers
The negligent owner of a tenement slum becomes romantically involved with one of the building's residents.