Tom Cruise Remember 'Unpretentious' Sydney Pollack 5/27/08

Tom Cruise has paid tribute to The Firm director Sydney Pollack, admitting he will "miss him dearly".

Pollack died aged 73 on Monday (26May08), after a nine-month battle with cancer at his home in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles. And Cruise, who worked with the director/actor on 1993's The Firm and Eyes Wide Shut in 1998, remembers the star as an "unpretentious" man.

He says, "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 (wine)."

Cruise also looks back fondly on their first meeting, when Pollack patiently answered an up-and-coming Cruise's eager questions for six-hours, even though he was busy editing his comedy classic Tootsie.

He explains, "I first met him while he was in the midst of editing Tootsie. I'd seen every one of his pictures and he generously took the meeting. "He was a Renaissance man and a great friend. I will miss him dearly."