Philip French pays tribute to George Roy Hill, the filmmaker who created one of the screens greatest double acts.George Roy Hill, the hugely versatile and Academyaward winning director who has died a week after his eightieth birthday, did not arrive in Hollywood until he was 40. He directed only 14 films, but two are among the most popular ever: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1969 and The Sting 1973.He belonged to the generation of filmmakers that emerged between the pioneers of the major studios in Hollywoods Golden Age and the socalled movie brats from the film schools in the late Sixties. Unlike the former, he was very well educated, with a passion for music and aviation; unlike the latter, he brought a wide range of experience to his craft. Hill was born in Minnesota in 1921 and, after studying at Yale and Trinity College, Dublin, he served as a pilot with the US Marine Corps in the Second World War. After the war this tall, handsome man found work as an actor on stage in the United States and in Dublin, where he was briefly a member of Cyril Cusacks company. His career was disrupted in 1950 when he was called up for military service in the Korean War. After returning home, he began directing in the New York theatre and in live television.

Website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2002/dec/29/culture.news