Search results
Feb 20, 2021 · Trailblazing actor and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Sidney Poitier has died at 94. He had dozens of film and TV roles, worked as a director and was the Bahamian ambassador to Japan. In ...
- Early Life
- Career Breakthrough
- Filmmaker
- Activism and Diplomacy
- Widely Honored
- Poitier on Being A Groundbreaking Black Star
Poitier was born Feb. 20, 1927, in Miami, Florida, to Bahamian parents. Raised in the Bahamas, he came to the U.S. at 15 and worked as a dishwasher before landing an audition with the American Negro Theater. His first big success was on Broadway in “Lysistrata,” which was soon followed by breakout movie roles in “No Way Out” and “Blackboard Jungle,...
When Poitier starred in “The Defiant Ones” in 1958, his performance earned an Academy Award nomination. He starred in “A Raisin in the Sun” during its first run on Broadway in 1959; two years later, he reprised his role for the big screen. In 1963, for his performance in “Lilies of the Field,” Poitier won one of the most noteworthy Oscars of all ti...
Poitier’s later career included directing – with the Gene Wilder (1933–2016) and Richard Pryor (1940–2005)movie “Stir Crazy,” he created the highest-grossing film by an African-American director at the time. Other films that saw Poitier behind the camera include “Uptown Saturday Night,” “Stir Crazy,” and “Fast Forward.” Poitier also continued to ac...
In the 1960s, Poitier was also involved in the civil rights movement, joining Harry Belafonte when he traveled south for 1964’s Freedom Summer and becoming involved with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. A Bahamian citizen, Poitier was named ambassador of the Bahamas to Japan in 1997, holding the position until 2007. He was also the a...
Poitier was knighted in 1974, carrying the honor of Knight Commander of the British Empire. Other awards and honors bestowed on Poitier include life achievement awards from the Screen Actors Guild and American Film Institute, Kennedy Center Honors, NAACP Image Award Hall of Fame membership and 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.” —from a 2000 interview with Oprah Winfrey
Jan 7, 2022 · Sidney Poitier, whose elegant bearing and principled onscreen characters made him Hollywood’s first Black movie star, has died at the age of 94. ... In pictures: Hollywood legend Sidney Poitier ...
People also ask
Is Sidney Poitier still alive?
Who was Sidney Poitier?
Did Sidney Poitier feel indebted to Denzel Washington?
Did Sidney Poitier break into a Frug?
Jan 7, 2022 · Sidney Poitier's family remembered him as "a man who always put family first" after he died this week at the age of 94. Sidney Poitier's Family Calls Him "Our Guiding Light" in Tribute
Jan 7, 2022 · Sidney Poitier, 94, the actor and activist who rose from illiterate Bahamian street urchin to eloquent Hollywood trailblazer, crashing through racial barriers to become the first Black actor to win a competitive Academy Award, died Thursday night at his hacienda-style home in Los Angeles. The saga of how an uneducated boy who wore shirts ...
- Carrie Rickey
Actor Sidney Poitier poses with Quincy Jones and actress Ruby Dee, at The Film Society's Annual Gala Presentation of the 38th Annual Chaplin Award honoring Poitier, in New York City May 2, 2011 ...
Jan 8, 2022 · Sidney Poitier, who made history as the first Black man to win an Oscar for lead actor and who starred in ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,’ has died. Jan. 7, 2022. 3. Movies. Chang: Sidney ...
