Sidney was born to a Hungarian-Jewish family in Long Island City, New York. Both Sidney's parents were actors, and Sidney began acting as a child on stage and in silent films. He worked as a musician.
Director of shorts at MGM
Sidney's father, Louis K Sidney, was an executive at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer who helped his son in his late teens gained a job at MGM as a messenger. He moved into directing screen tests and second unit as well as taking stills. Sidney was assigned to direct the Our Gang comedies, which MGM had just acquired from Hal Roach, in 1938. Sidney, then age 21, was the youngest Our Gang senior director the series had, and was only nine years older than the eldest Our Gang kid, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer's brother Harold Switzer. After a year of working on Our Gang shorts, Sidney moved on to the Crime Does Not Pay series and popular Pete Smith specialties.
Early features
Sidney graduated to directing features with Free and Easy. He followed it with Pacific Rendezvous and Pilot No. 5. He then worked his way into directing large scale musicals such as The Harvey Girls, The Three Musketeers, Annie Get Your Gun, and Kiss Me Kate.
Columbia
Sidney left MGM to make The Eddy Duchin Story at Columbia Pictures where he made his base for the next decade for such films as Jeanne Eagels, Pal Joey, Who Was That Lady?, Pepe, and Bye Bye Birdie. He returned to MGM to film A Ticklish Affair and Elvis Presley's Viva Las Vegas. His last film was Half a Sixpence.
Sidney was nominated for the Directors Guild of America Award four times, starting with the lush Technicolor remake of Show Boat. In 1958 he was presented with a Golden Globe Award for Best World Entertainment through Musical Films. For his work in the art of cinema, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1966, Variety listed Sidney as the director with the most films earning rentals of $4 million or more in the United States and Canada with 12 films on the list with a total rental of $57.25 million. Based on the rentals listed for other directors, his ranking was fourth based on total rentals. His higher performing films were Bye Bye Birdie, The Eddy Duchin Story, Show Boat, Pepe, Pal Joey, Viva Las Vegas, Annie Get Your Gun, Anchors Aweigh, The Harvey Girls, The Three Musketeers, Cass Timberlane, and Holiday in Mexico. He was ranked second 11 years later.
Personal life
He was married three times: first to Lillian Burns, then to Jane Robinson, and finally to Corinne Cole until his death from complications of lymphoma in Las Vegas, Nevada at the age of 85.
