Sidney Poitier
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Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE (pronounced /ˈpwɑːtieɪ/; born February 20, 1927) is an Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Grammy-winning Bahamian-American actor, film director, and author. He broke through as a star in acclaimed performances in American films and plays, which, by consciously defying racial stereotyping, gave a new dramatic credibility for black actors to mainstream film audiences in the Western world.
In 1963, Poitier became the first black man to win the Academy Award for Best Actor—for his role in Lilies of the Field. The significance of this achievement was later bolstered in 1967 when he starred in three very well received films—To Sir, With Love, In the Heat of the Night, and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner—making him the top box office star of that year.[1]
Poitier has directed a number of popular movies such as Uptown Saturday Night, and Let's Do It Again (with friend Bill Cosby), and Stir Crazy (starring Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder). In 2002, 38 years after receiving the Best Actor Award, Poitier was chosen by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to receive the Honorary Award, designated "To Sidney Poitier in recognition of his remarkable accomplishments as an artist and as a human being."[2]
Since 1997 he has been the Bahamian ambassador to Japan.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
By Poitier's own account, he was born in Miami, Florida but spent his childhood in The Bahamas and later moved back to the United States.[citation needed] By other accounts, he was born at sea en route to Miami, Florida, where his Bahamian parents, Evelyn (née Outten) and Reginald James Poitier,[3] traveled to sell tomatoes and other produce from their farm on tiny Cat Island. Poitier was born prematurely and was not originally expected to survive the boat ride; his birth was recorded in Miami (though he may not have been born there), as the vessel was already closer to Florida. He spent his early years on remote Cat Island, which had a population of 4,000 and no electricity.
At the age of 10, Poitier traveled to Nassau with his family. His family attended the Anglican and then the Catholic church, and Poitier was also involved with local voodoo traditions.[4] As he got older, he displayed an increasing inclination toward juvenile delinquency. At the age of 15, his parents shipped him off to Miami to live with his older brother. At age 17, Poitier moved to New York City and held a string of menial jobs. During this time, he was arrested for vagrancy after being thrown out of his housing complex for not paying rent, and decided to join the United States Army.
[edit] Acting career
Poitier tried his hand at the American Negro 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 six 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 had 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 was noticed and led to more roles, each considerably more interesting and prominent than most black actors of the time were getting, though still less so 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. At age twenty-seven, like most of the actors in the film, he was not a teenager. Poitier was the first male black actor to be nominated for a competitive Academy Award (for The Defiant Ones, 1958), and also the first to win the Academy Award for Best Actor (for Lilies of the Field in 1963). (James Baskett was the first to receive an Oscar, an Honorary Academy Award for his performance as Uncle Remus in the Walt Disney production of Song of the South in 1948).
He acted in the first production of A Raisin in the Sun on Broadway in 1959, and later starred in the film version released in 1961. He also gave memorable performances in The Bedford Incident (1965), 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). Poitier played Virgil Tibbs, a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania detective in the 1967 film In the Heat of the Night and its two sequels: They Call Me Mister Tibbs (1970) and The Organization (1971).
[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.[citation needed] 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 Cosby in Let's Do It Again, A Piece of the Action, and Ghost Dad.
[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, all girls. His fifth daughter is actress Sydney Tamiia Poitier.
He has written three autobiographical books, This Life (1980), The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography (2000) and Life Beyond Measure - letters to my Great-Granddaughter (2008). The second one became an Oprah's Book Club selection.
[edit] Later Life
In April 1997, Poitier was appointed as ambassador of the Bahamas to Japan, where he served for the next 10 years. Since 1998, he has been a Member of the Board of Directors of The Walt Disney Company.
[edit] Filmography
[edit] Actor
| Year | Film | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1947 | Sepia Cinderella | Extra | uncredited |
| 1949 | From Whence Cometh My Help | Himself | documentary |
| 1950 | No Way Out | Dr. Luther Brooks | |
| 1951 | Cry, The Beloved Country | Reverend Msimangu | |
| 1952 | Red Ball Express | Cpl. Andrew Robertson | |
| 1954 | Go, Man, Go! | Inman Jackson | |
| 1955 | Blackboard Jungle | Gregory W. Miller | |
| 1956 | Good-bye, My Lady | Gates | |
| 1957 | Edge of the City | Tommy Tyler | Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role |
| Something of Value | Kimani Wa Karanja | ||
| Band of Angels | Rau-Ru | ||
| The Mark of the Hawk | Obam | ||
| 1958 | Virgin Island | Marcus | |
| The Defiant Ones | Noah Cullen | BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama |
|
| 1959 | Porgy and Bess | Porgy | Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |
| 1960 | All the Young Men | Sgt. Eddie Towler | |
| 1961 | A Raisin in the Sun | Walter Lee Younger | Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama |
| Paris Blues | Eddie Cook | ||
| 1962 | Pressure Point | Doctor (Chief Psychiatrist) | |
| 1963 | The Long Ships | Aly Mansuh | |
| Lilies of the Field | Homer Smith | Academy Award for Best Actor Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role |
|
| 1965 | The Bedford Incident | Ben Munceford | |
| The Greatest Story Ever Told | Simon of Cyrene | ||
| A Patch of Blue | Gordon Ralfe | Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama |
|
| The Slender Thread | Alan Newell | ||
| 1966 | Duel at Diablo | Toller (contract horse dealer) | |
| 1967 | To Sir, with Love | Mark Thackeray | |
| In the Heat of the Night | Det. Virgil Tibbs | Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama |
|
| Guess Who's Coming to Dinner | Dr. John Wade Prentice | ||
| 1968 | For Love of Ivy | Jack Parks | |
| 1969 | The Lost Man | Jason Higgs | |
| 1970 | King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis | Narrator | documentary |
| They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! | Virgil Tibbs | ||
| 1971 | Brother John | John Kane | |
| Not Me Boss!! | |||
| The Organization | Detective Lieutenant Virgil Tibbs SFPD Homicide | ||
| 1972 | Buck and the Preacher | Buck | |
| 1973 | A Warm December | Matt Younger | |
| 1974 | Uptown Saturday Night | Steve Jackson | |
| 1975 | The Wilby Conspiracy | Shack Twala | |
| Let's Do it Again | Clyde Williams | ||
| 1977 | A Piece of the Action | Manny Durrell | |
| 1979 | Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist | Narrator | short subject |
| 1988 | Shoot to Kill | Warren Stantin | |
| Little Nikita | Roy Parmenter | ||
| 1992 | Sneakers | Donald Crease | |
| 1994 | A Century of Cinema | Himself | documentary |
| 1996 | Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick | Himself | documentary |
| 1997 | The Jackal | FBI Deputy Director Carter Preston | |
| 2001 | Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey | Narrator | documentary |
| 2004 | Tell Them Who You Are | Himself | documentary |
[edit] Director
| Year | Film |
|---|---|
| 1972 | Buck and the Preacher |
| 1973 | A Warm December |
| 1974 | Uptown Saturday Night |
| 1975 | Let's Do it Again |
| 1977 | A Piece of the Action |
| 1980 | Stir Crazy |
| 1982 | Hanky Panky |
| 1985 | Fast Forward |
| 1990 | Ghost Dad |
[edit] Television
| Year | Title | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Separate but Equal | Thurgood Marshall | Nominated - Emmy Award Nominated - Golden Globe |
| 1995 | Children of the Dust | Gypsy Smith | |
| 1996 | To Sir, with Love II | Mark Thackeray | |
| 1997 | Mandela and De Klerk | Nelson Mandela | Nominated - Emmy Award |
| 1998 | David and Lisa | Dr. Jack Miller | |
| 1999 | The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn | Noah Dearborn | |
| Free of Eden | Will Cleamons | ||
| 2001 | The Last Bricklayer in America | Henry Cobb |
[edit] Awards and recognition
- Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, awarded in 1974. Because Poitier is a citizen of the Bahamas, a Commonwealth Realm that subscribes to the British Honours System, this is a substantive (as opposed to honorary) knighthood, which entitles him to the title "Sir".
- 1992 AFI Life Achievement Award
- 1995 SAG Life Achievement Award
- 1997 Appointed non-resident Bahamian Ambassador to Japan
- 1999 Kennedy Center Honors
- 2000 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special for The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn
- 2001 NAACP Image Award - Hall of Fame Award
- 2001 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album - Rick Harris, John Runnette (producers) and Sidney Poitier for The Measure of a Man
- 2002 Honorary Oscar - "For his extraordinary performances and unique presence on the screen and for representing the industry with dignity, style and intelligence."
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Henry Fonda for 12 Angry Men |
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role 1958 for The Defiant Ones |
Succeeded by Jack Lemmon for Some Like It Hot |
| 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 |
| Preceded by Gregory Peck for To Kill a Mockingbird |
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama 1964 for Lilies of the Field |
Succeeded by Peter O'Toole for Becket |
| Preceded by Gene Kelly |
Cecil B. DeMille Award 1982 |
Succeeded by Laurence Olivier |
| Preceded by Kirk Douglas |
AFI Life Achievement Award 1992 |
Succeeded by Elizabeth Taylor |
| Preceded by Jack Cardiff, Ernest Lehman |
Academy Honorary Award 2002 with Robert Redford |
Succeeded by Peter O'Toole |
[edit] See also
- List of African American firsts
- David Hampton, an impostor who posed as Poitier's son "David" in 1983, which inspired a play and a film, Six Degrees of Separation.
[edit] References
- ^ Sidney Poitier. MSN Encarta.
- ^ Sidney Poitier awards: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Awards database - Oscars.org.
- ^ Sidney Poitier Biography (1927-)
- ^ The religion of Sidney Poitier, actor
[edit] External links
- Sidney Poitier biography and video interview excerpts by The National Visionary Leadership Project
- Official publisher web page
- Sidney Poitier at the Internet Movie Database
- Sidney Poitier at the TCM Movie Database
- Sidney Poitier at the Internet Broadway Database
- Poitier breaks new ground with Oscar win (BBC, April 13, 1964)
- African-Americans: Sidney Poitier
- Sidney Poitier to get Marian Anderson Award (July 26, 2006)
- The Purpose Prize: Sidney Poitier
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|||||
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Poitier, Sidney |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Actor, director, author |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 20, 1927 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Miami, Florida, United States |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
