George Roy Hill

Having emerged from the theater world as an actor and director, George Roy Hill made a smooth transition to motion pictures by directing both Paul Newman and Robert Redford in the actors' most recognizable roles. Hill garnered a decent amount of acclaim and success before directing the pair in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969), a revisionist Western that became a smash hit while establishing the then-unknown Redford as a bona fide star. The director reunited with the two actors for the Oscar-winning caper comedy "The Sting" (1973), which lived on as Hill's finest achievement. Hill moved on to work with both Redford and Newman on separate films; the former starred in his grand barnstorming adventure, "The Great Waldo Pepper" (1975), while the latter starred in his dark sports comedy "Slap Shot" (1977), neither of which became big box office hits, but nonetheless remained in high regard by critics and audiences. Following the minor success "A Little Romance" (1979), Hill divided critics with "The World According to Garp" (1982), which seemed to garner a more enthusiastic response from audiences. He later unofficially retired from Hollywood and returned to academia. Despite his rather sudden abandonment of filmmaking, Hill nonetheless remained one of the giant directing talents who contributed to Hollywood's second Golden Age of the late 1960s and early 1970s.