Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame. In 1999, he was
awarded the National Medal of Arts. In 2000, he and Internet
entrepreneur David Hayden bought the original copy of the
Declaration of Independence for $8.1 million. They then put
the founding document on tour, because, Lear said: “I want to
take it where Americans can see it.”Michael B. McGee
An All-American tackle at Duke University, McGee received a
bachelor’s degree in business, before being drafted by the St.
Louis Cardinals. He became an assistant coach at Duke when
an injury ended his career as a player. Head coach at 29, he
earned a doctorate and became an athletics administrator. In
1984 he moved to the University of Southern California as ath-
letic director. McGee was inducted into the College Football
Hall of Fame in 1990 for his leadership both on and off the
field. He served as athletic director at the University of South
Carolina for 12 years before retiring in 2005.Sydney Pollack
Pollack was born in 1934 in Lafayette, Indiana. He studied
acting in New York with legendary teacher Sanford Meisner.
He began directing in the new medium of television during its
Golden Age. He directed and produced more than twenty
films, including They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, The Way We
We r e, Three Days of the Condor, Out of Africa, Tootsie, and The
Firm. His films have received more than forty Academy Award
nominations, including four for best picture. Pollack himself
was nominated three times. Out of Africawon seven Oscars,
including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. He
won the New York Film Critics’ Award for the highly ac-
claimed Tootsie. He continued to produce, direct, and act in aBiographies0465014088_rm.qxd:0738208175_rm.qxd 1/9/09 2:04 PM Page 236