Sidney Poitier

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Sidney Poitier

Poitier (left) on the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C with Harry Belafonte and Charlton Heston
Birth name Sidney Poitier
Born February 20, 1927
Miami, Florida, USA
Notable roles In the Heat of the Night
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
Lilies of the Field

Sir Sidney Poitier KBE, (IPA pronunciation: ['pwɑtiˌeɪ]) (born February 20, 1927), is a Bahamian American Academy Award-winning actor (film and stage), film director, and activist. He has been hailed as a breakthrough star thanks to acclaimed performances, which, by consciously defying racial stereotyping, gave a new dramatic credibility for black actors to mainstream film audiences in the Western world.[citation needed]

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[edit] Early life and acting career

Sidney Poitier was born on the high seas en route to Miami, Florida, where his farmer parents, a Bahamian father of Haitian descent and a Bahamian mother, travelled to sell tomatoes and other produce from their farm on tiny Cat Island in The Bahamas. Poitier was born prematurely and was not originally expected to survive the boat ride; his birth was recorded in Miami, as the vessel was already closer to Florida. He spent his early years on the remote island, which had a population of 1,500 and no electricity.

During his early teenage years, Poitier was sent to Nassau to live with relatives and find a job but he displayed an increasing inclination toward juvenile delinquency. At the age of 16 his parents shipped him off to Miami to live with his older brother. At age 18, Poitier moved to New York City and underwent a brief stint in the U.S. Army and a string of menial jobs. He then tried his hand at the theater, where he was handily rejected by audiences. Determined to refine his acting skills and rid himself of his noticeable Bahamian accent, he spent the next 6 months dedicating himself to achieving theatrical success. On his second attempt at the theater, he was noticed and given a leading role in the Broadway production "Lysistrata", for which he got excellent reviews. By the end of 1949, he was having to choose between leading roles on stage and an offer to work for Darryl F. Zanuck in the film No Way Out (1950). His performance in No Way Out as a doctor treating a white bigot got him plenty of notice and led to more roles, each considerably more interesting and prominent than most black actors of the time were getting, though still less interesting and prominent than those white actors routinely obtained.

Poitier's breakout role was as a member of an incorrigible high school class in the 1955 film Blackboard Jungle. Remarkably, nobody seemed to notice Poitier was 27 at the time of filming. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the 1963 film Lilies of the Field and was the first actor of African descent to win this award. (Note: African-American actor James Baskett received an Honorary Academy Award for his performance as Uncle Remus in the Walt Disney production of Song of the South in 1948. Baskett is the first male performer of African descent to receive an Oscar, while Poitier is the first to win in a competitive category).

He acted in the first production of A Raisin in the Sun on Broadway in 1959, and later starred in the film version that was released in 1961.

In Hollywood, Poitier made some memorable movies, such as The Defiant Ones (for which he was the first black actor to be nominated for an Academy Award) and The Bedford Incident. However, to many audiences, Poitier will forever be remembered as the unintimidable Virgil Tibbs, a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania detective in the hit 1967 movie In the Heat of the Night and its two sequels: They Call Me Mister Tibbs (1970) and The Organization (1971).

He also had gave a memorable performances in A Patch of Blue (1965) co-starring Elizabeth Hartman and Shelley Winters; Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? (1967); and To Sir, with Love (1967).

[edit] Directorial career

Poitier has directed several films, the most successful being the Richard Pryor-Gene Wilder comedy Stir Crazy, which for years was the highest grossing film directed by a person of African descent. His feature film directorial debut was the western Buck and the Preacher in which Poitier also starred in alongside Harry Belafonte. Poitier replaced original director Joseph Sargent. The trio of Poitier, Cosby, and Belafonte reunited again (with Poitier again directing) in Uptown Saturday Night. Poitier also directed (with Cosby starring in) in Let's Do It Again, A Piece of the Action, and Ghost Dad.

[edit] Honors

Poitier was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II (by right and recommendation of his Bahamian citizenship) in 1974. In 2000 he received the Life Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and in 2002 he received an Honorary Academy Award for his lifetime achievement in the film industry from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

In June 2006, the AFI released its list of the 100 Most Inspiring Movies. Poitier was the only actor to have five of his films appear on the list (The Defiant Ones, A Raisin in the Sun, Lilies of the Field, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and In the Heat of the Night).

[edit] Personal life

Poitier was first married to Juanita Hardy from April 29, 1950 until 1965. He has been married to Joanna Shimkus, a Canadian-born former actress of Lithuanian descent, since January 23, 1976. He has four children by his first marriage and two children by his second marriage. His fifth daughter is actress Sydney Tamiia Poitier.

He has written two autobiographical books, This Life (1980) and The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography (2000).

Poitier was appointed a Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE) in 1974. Being a citizen of the Bahamas, a Commonwealth Realm that uses the British Honours System, this is a substantive knighthood which entitles him to use the title "Sir", though he chooses not to do so. Poitier also has served as non-resident Bahamian ambassador to Japan (since April 1997), and to the United Nations (UN) Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In these diplomatic roles, the Bahamian Ministry of Foreign Affairs refers to him as "His Excellency Sir Sidney Poitier" [1].

[edit] Miscellany

[edit] Awards and recognition

Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album
NAACP Image Award - Hall of Fame Award
  • 2001: Sidney Poitier
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
  • 2000: Sidney Poitier, The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn
Kennedy Center Honors
  • 1995: Sidney Poitier
AFI Life Achievement Award
  • 1992: Sidney Poitier
Golden Globe Awards: Film, Best Actor, Drama
  • 1964: Sidney Poitier, Lilies of the Field
Academy Award for Best Actor 
  • 1963: Sidney Poitier for Lilies of the Field
BAFTA Award for Best Actor
  • 1958: Foreign: Sidney Poitier for The Defiant Ones
British Honours System
Preceded by
Gregory Peck
for To Kill a Mockingbird		 Academy Award for Best Actor
1963
for Lilies of the Field		 Succeeded by
Rex Harrison
for My Fair Lady

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Actor

[edit] Director

[edit] Television

  • Separate but Equal (1991)
  • Children of the Dust (1995)
  • To Sir, with Love II (1996)
  • Mandela and De Klerk (1997)
  • David and Lisa (1998)
  • Free of Eden (1999)
  • The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn (1999)
  • The Last Bricklayer in America (2001)

[edit] See also

[edit] External Links


[edit] References

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