Departures of note

Mark Rydell was an American film director, producer, and actor who built a distinguished career across film and television. Born Mortimer H. Rydell in New York City, he trained in music and acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse before gaining early recognition as an actor on the soap operas The Edge of Night and As the World Turns, and later as the violent mob kingpin Marty Augustine in Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye.

Rydell moved into directing in the 1960s, helming episodes of Ben Casey, I Spy, The Wild Wild West, and Gunsmoke before making his feature debut with The Fox (1967). He went on to direct Steve McQueen in The Reivers, John Wayne in The Cowboys, and James Caan in Cinderella Liberty and Harry and Walter Go to New York.

His greatest successes came with The Rose (1979), a landmark vehicle for Bette Midler, and On Golden Pond (1981), starring Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn, which earned Rydell an Academy Award nomination for Best Director. He later directed The River, For the Boys, and the television film James Dean, which earned James Franco a Golden Globe. He also acted in Woody Allen's Hollywood Ending and taught for decades at the Actors Studio.