Sidney J. Furie

Sholom Joseph Furie^[1] (born February 28, 1933),^[2] commonly known as Sidney J. Furie, is a Canadian film and television director, screenwriter, and producer. After early work at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Furie made his feature film debut with the drama A Dangerous Age (1957). Largely overlooked in its native country,^[3] the film was well-received by British critics and led the director to move there. He directed the well-regarded kitchen sink drama The Leather Boys (1964) and the spy film The Ipcress File (1965), starring Michael Caine, which won the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film.

In the following decade, Furie moved to the United States, where he directed a variety of films including the Western The Appaloosa (1966), the biopics Lady Sings the Blues (1972) and Gable and Lombard (1976), the Vietnam War film The Boys in Company C (1978),^[4] the horror film The Entity (1982), and the superhero film Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987). He co-created Iron Eagle action film franchise which began in 1986, and directed three of its four entries.^[5] He returned to Canada in the 1990s, where he has directed various independent and low-budget films.

Furie is considered by some an auteur director, elevating otherwise unremarkable genre films through strong, creative visuals, and atmospheric direction.^[3][6] He was one of the earliest Canadian directors to achieve mainstream critical and commercial success outside their native country, at a time when its native film industry was still burgeoning.^[7][8] In 2010, he received the Directors Guild of Canada's Lifetime Achievement Award.^[9]