Everything about Sidney Poitier totally explained
Sir
Sidney Poitier,
KBE (; 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.
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."
Since
1997 he's been the Bahamian ambassador to Japan.
Biography
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. By other accounts, he was born at sea en route to
Miami, Florida, where his Bahamian parents, Evelyn (
née Outten) and Reginald James Poitier, traveled to sell
tomatoes and other produce from their farm on tiny
Cat Island. Poitier was born prematurely and wasn't 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. 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.
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'd 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 wasn't 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).
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 Cosby in
Let's Do It Again,
A Piece of the Action, and
Ghost Dad.
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), (2000) and
Life Beyond Measure - letters to my Great-Granddaughter (2008). The second one became an
Oprah's Book Club selection.
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's been a Member of the Board of Directors of The Walt Disney Company.
Filmography
Actor
Director
Television
Awards and recognition
Further Information
Get more info on 'Sidney Poitier'.
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