Sidney Poitier was an acting legend who won an Academy Award for best actor for his role in “Lilies of the Field” and appeared in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.”
Poitier was born Feb. 20, 1927, in Miami, Florida, to Bahamian parents and spent most of his youth in the Bahamas. He came back to the United States at the age of 15 and worked as a dishwasher before auditioning for the American Negro Theater. His first major success on Broadway was in Lysistrata, which was soon followed by his first significant film
In 1958, Poitier received an Academy Award nomination for his work in “The Defiant Ones.” He played Reverend Richard Allen in the original production of “A Raisin in the Sun” on Broadway during 1959; two years later, he reprised his role for the big screen. For his performance as a priest in “L
In 1967, Poitier appeared in three huge box office hits: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, To Sir, With Love, and In the Heat of the Night. He was the most popular movie star of the year as he portrayed a young doctor with an interracial relationship in one film, a beloved teacher in another, and a police detective
After acting in films like “Uptown Saturday Night,” “Stir Crazy,” and “Fast Forward,” Poitier retired from acting to direct. He also directed films with Richard Pryor (1940–2005) and Gene Wilder (1933–2016), including the highest-grossing film by an African
In the 1960s, Poitier was a part of the civil rights movement, traveling to Mississippi during Freedom Summer in 1964 with Harry Belafonte and becoming involved with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. Poitier is a Bahamian citizen who has served as ambassador of the Bahamas to Japan (1997-2007). From 2002
In 1974, Poitier was made a Knight Commander of the British Empire for his services to drama. In addition, he has received screen actor’s Guild and American Film Institute Life Achievement Awards and Kennedy Center Honors, NAACP Image Award Hall of Fame membership, as well as a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
“It’s been an enormous responsibility. And I accepted it, and I lived in a way that showed how I respected that responsibility. I had to. In order for others to come behind me, there were certain things I had to do.” —Poitier said during an interview.
He came to the United States at the age of fifteen and worked as a dishwasher before auditioning for the American Negro Theater. His first major success on Broadway was in Lysistrata, which was soon followed by his first significant film, The Defiant Ones. In 1958, Poitier received an Academy Award nomination for his work in The Defiant Ones. He played Reverend Richard Allen in the original production of A Raisin in the Sun on Broadway during 1959; two years later, he reprised his role for the big screen.
For his performance as a priest in Lilies of the Field, Poitier received an Academy Award for best actor in 1963. In 1967, Poitier appeared in three huge box office hits: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, To Sir, With Love, and In the Heat of the Night. He was the most popular movie star of the year as he portrayed a young doctor with an interracial relationship in one film, a beloved teacher in another, and a police detective in the last.
After acting in films like Uptown Saturday Night, Stir Crazy, and Fast Forward, Poitier retired from acting to direct. He also directed films with Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder, including the highest-grossing film by an African American director, 1989’s Driving Miss Daisy. In the 1960s, Poitier was a part of the civil rights movement, traveling to Mississippi during Freedom Summer in 1964 with Harry Belafonte and becoming involved with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. Poitier is a Bahamian citizen who has served as ambassador of the Bahamas to Japan (1997-2007). From 2002-2004, he was the United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for HIV/AIDS.
