George Roy Hill (December 20, 1921 – December 27, 2002) was an American film director. His films include Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Sting (1973), both starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Both films also earned him nominations for the Academy Award for Best Director; he won for the latter.

Hill also directed The World of Henry Orient (1964), Hawaii (1966), Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), Slaughterhouse-Five (1972), The Great Waldo Pepper (1975), Slap Shot (1977), A Little Romance (1979), The World According to Garp (1982) and his final film Funny Farm (1988). According to one obituary "few directors achieved such fame and success... even fewer enjoyed such eminence for such a short period of time."

Early life and education

He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to George Roy and Helen Frances (née Owens) Hill, part of a well-to-do Roman Catholic family with interests in the newspaper business; the family owned the Minneapolis Tribune. Hill was no relation to George W. Hill, director and cinematographer of numerous silent movies and early sound films in the 1920s and early 1930s. He was educated at The Blake School, one of Minnesota's most prestigious private schools,

He had a love of flying. After school he liked to visit the airport, and his hobby was to memorize the records of World War I flying aces. who, Hill once explained, "used to make his approach to the spectators at state fairs flying past the grandstand upside down."

Military service

During World War II, Hill served in the United States Marine Corps as a transport pilot with VMR-152 in the South Pacific.

Other sources say his thesis was never completed because he became sidetracked by the Irish theater, at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin,

Actor

On his return to the U.S., Hill studied theatre at HB Studio in New York City. He acted Off Broadway and toured with Margaret Webster's Shakespeare Repertory Company. He appeared on Broadway in Richard II, The Taming of the Shrew, and August Strindberg's Creditors (with Bea Arthur).

In 1952 he was featured in a supporting role in the Hollywood movie Walk East on Beacon,

Television and theatre director

Hill used his Korean War experience as the basis for a TV drama, "My Brother's Keeper", which appeared on Kraft Television Theatre, with Hill himself in the cast. During his military service at Cherry Point, he had had to be 'talked down' by a ground controller at Atlanta airport, an incident that led to his writing the screenplay. The episode was performed and broadcast live in 1953.

Feature film director

thumb|right|Hill (right) with actor [[Paul Newman on the set of Slap Shot in 1976]]

Hill's success as a theatre director led to his first feature as director – the film version of Period of Adjustment (1962). Starring Jane Fonda and Jim Hutton, it was a box office success. He was meant to follow with an adaptation of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer at MGM for producer John Houseman but it was not made. In light of that his next project was an adaptation of Lillian Hellman's Toys in the Attic (1963) starring Dean Martin. Hill's next step was a movie based on the novel The World of Henry Orient (1964). Hill and producer Jerome Hellman bought the rights for their own Pan Arts Company. The movie was critically acclaimed but was a commercial disappointment.

Hill was hired to direct the blockbuster Hawaii (1966) after Fred Zinnemann pulled out. Reportedly, when budget estimates reached $14 million, the producers attempted to replace Hill with Arthur Hiller, but abandoned the idea after hundreds of native Polynesians in the cast went on strike, declaring: "We can and will perform only for our friend, Monsieur Hill." However it was a solid box office hit.

He returned to Broadway to direct Henry, Sweet Henry (1967), a musical version of The World of Henry Orient, but it only lasted for 80 performances. He was meant to follow that with a film called Hamburger Dreams, about a screenwriter in 1930s Hollywood, but it was never made. Instead, Hill had a huge commercial success with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), based on a script by William Goldman and starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. The film received seven Academy Award nominations, including ones for Best Picture and Best Director, and won four, including for Best Original Song, "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" at the 42nd Academy Awards. Hill followed it with Slaughterhouse-Five (1972). "Most of the characters in my film are not too bright," he said in a 1972 interview.

Later career

The Great Waldo Pepper (1975) was based on a story by Hill, with a script by William Goldman and starring Robert Redford. However, it was a commercial disappointment. Around that time he said in an interview: "Just as I play nothing but Bach for pleasure, so do I read nothing but history for pleasure. I like to be able to sit back and pick out the most fascinating facets of an era. You have a better perspective. In the present, you get too caught up in the heat of the emotions of the moment." "Why shouldn't we give George that kind of deal?" said studio executive Jennings Lang. "He's the complete filmmaker. He can put a blank piece of paper in the typewriter and make a movie out of it up to and including the music." His next film was A Little Romance (1979), and The World According to Garp (1982), with Robin Williams and Glenn Close, in her film debut. He also directed The Little Drummer Girl (1984) with Diane Keaton.

His last film was Funny Farm (1988) with Chevy Chase. Screenwriter Jeffrey Boam said, "George wanted to do a much classier version than I ever imagined it to be. I imagined it to be a little cruder, more low-brow humor, rougher and more like the movies Chevy was doing at the time, but George was a classy guy and he wasn’t going to do that ... I think a lot of Chevy’s fans were let down because it wasn’t as raucous and vulgar as they might have expected."

During his later years he taught drama at Yale. In the posts Colapinto attributes to Walker, the retired actress describes being aggressively French-kissed by Hill as a 16-year-old while they were alone in his office. Walker also claimed that Hill swore her to secrecy about the resulting relationship, then himself told others,

Hill died from complications of Parkinson's disease at his home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan on December 27, 2002, aged 81.