Coen brothers with its head turned around as it looks back over its hindquarters. Up to 2003, Joel received sole credit for directing and Ethan for producing, due to guild rules that disallowed multiple director credits to prevent dilution of the position's significance. The only exception to this rule is if the co-directors are an "established duo". Now that they were able to share the director credit the Coen brothers have become only the third duo to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director. The first two pairs to achieve this were Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins (who won for
Joel Siegel his 64th birthday. His family has said the last movie he saw was "Ratatouille" with his son. Following his death, Roger Ebert wrote a tribute to Joel and stated in the tribute that Joel was "a brave man, and a hell of a nice guy." Siegel received five New York Emmy Awards and a public service award from the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith and the New York State Associated Press Broadcasters Association Award for general excellence in individual reporting. In 1986, "Spy" magazine derided Siegel as "the poor man's Gene Shalit", who relied "heavily on alliteration." Joel Siegel Joel