Sidney Poitier's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) Bravo Profiles Sidney Poit… Film Night (UK) Sidney Poit… The Philco Television Playhouse Tommy Tyler

Main Movie Roles 2007 - Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project 2004 - Tell Them Who You Are 1997 - The Jackal 1992 - Sneakers 1988 - Shoot to Kill 1988 - Little Nikita 1975 - The Wilby Conspiracy 1975 - Let's Do It Again 1974 - Uptown Saturday Night 1972 - Buck and the Preacher 1970 - They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! 1967 - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner 1967 - To Sir, with Love 1967 - In the Heat of the Night 1966 - Duel at Diablo 1965 - The Greatest Story Ever Told 1965 - A Patch Of Blue 1964 - The Long Ships 1963 - Lilies of the Field 1962 - Pressure Point 1961 - A Raisin In The Sun 1961 - Paris Blues 1959 - Porgy and Bess 1958 - The Defiant Ones 1957 - Band of Angels 1957 - Edge of the City 1955 - Blackboard Jungle 1950 - No Way Out

BIOGRAPHY:

A native of Cat Island, The Bahamas, (though born in Miami during a mainland visit by his parents), Poitier grew up in poverty as the son of a dirt farmer. He had little formal education and at the age of 15 was sent to Miami to live with his brother, in order to forestall a growing tendency toward delinquency. In the U.S., Poitier first experienced the racial chasm that divides the country, a great shock to a boy coming from a society with a black majority. A determination to find and create opportunities for blacks was born in him because of the poor treatment he received on the streets of Miami. At 18, he went to New York, did menial jobs and slept in a bus terminal toilet. A brief stint in the Army as a worker at a veteran's hospital was followed by more menial jobs in Harlem. An impulsive audition at the American Negro Theatre was rejected so forcefully that Poitier dedicated the next six months to overcoming his accent and performance ineptness. On his second try, he was accepted. He was spotted in a rehearsal and given a bit part in a Broadway production of "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). Poitier's performance 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. Nevertheless, the roles were still less interesting and prominent than those white actors routinely obtained. But seven years later, after turning down several projects he considered demeaning, Poitier got a number of roles that catapulted him into a category rarely if ever achieved by a black man of that time, that of starring leading man. One of the films, The Defiant Ones (1958), gave Poitier his first Academy Award nomination as Best Actor. Five years later, he won the Oscar for Lilies of the Field (1963), the first black to win for a leading role. Poitier maintained activity on stage, on screen, and in the burgeoning Civil Rights movement. His roles in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) and To Sir, with Love (1967) were for their time landmarks in the breaking down of social barriers between blacks and whites, and Poitier's talent, conscience, integrity, and inherent likability placed him on equal footing with the white stars of the day. He took on directing and producing chores in the Seventies, achieving success in both arenas. Although he has reduced the frequency of his roles in recent years, he remains one of the most respected and beloved figures in American cinema of the twentieth century.


TRIVIA:

• Children: 'Beverly Poitier-Henderson' (qv), 'Pamela Poitier' (qv), 'Sherri Poitier' (qv), Gina Poitier (with Juanita Hardy); 'Anika Poitier' (qv), 'Sydney Tamiia Poitier' (qv) (with 'Joanna Shimkus' (qv)).
• In the 1960s, for many of his films, he was paid in a way known as "dollar one participation" which basically means he begins collecting a cut of the film's gross from the first ticket sold.
• In 1963 he became the first black man to win an Academy Award, for his role as Homer Smith in _Lilies of the Field (1963)_ (qv).
• Has four grandchildren and two great-granddaughters [2008].
• Of Haitian ancestry from his father's side.
• Was nominated for Broadway's 1960 Tony Award as Best Actor (Dramatic) for "A Raisin in the Sun," a role that he recreated in the film version of the same same, _A Raisin in the Sun (1961)_ (qv).
• When he came to New York from the Caribbean to become an actor, he was so impoverished at first that he slept in the bus station. To get his first major role in _No Way Out (1950)_ (qv), he lied to director 'Joseph L. Mankiewicz' (qv) and told him he was 27, when actually only 22 years old.
• Has an honorary doctorate degree from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania.