Sidney Poitier
Born: 1927-02-20 in Miami, Florida, USA
Died: 2022-01-06
Known For: Acting
Biography
Sidney Poitier KBE (February 20, 1927 – January 6, 2022) was a Bahamian and American actor, film director, and diplomat. In 1964, he became the first black actor and first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, for Lilies of the Field. Other accolades include two competitive Golden Globe Awards, a competitive British Academy of Film and Television Arts award (BAFTA), and a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album. Major films featuring Poitier in a starring role include Blackboard Jungle (1955), The Defiant Ones (1958), To Sir, with Love (1967), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), In the Heat of the Night (1967), Sneakers (1992), and The Jackal (1997). Later in his career, he turned to directing with features such as Buck and the Preacher (1972), Uptown Saturday Night (1974), Stir Crazy (1980), and Ghost Dad (1990). At the time of his death, Poitier was one of the last major stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema.
Filmography
2024
- Hollywood Black as Self (archive footage)
2023
- Reinventing Elvis: The 68' Comeback as Self (archive footage)
- Sidney Poitier - The Man Who Changed Hollywood as Self (archive footage)
2022
- Sidney as Self
- A Star Without a Star: The Untold Juanita Moore Story as Self
2018
- Mr. SOUL! as Self (archive footage)
- Poitier's Walter Lee as Self (archive footage)
2017
- The Madding Crowd as Self (archive footage)
- Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes / Feeling Heart as Self
2013
2012
- Sing Your Song as Self
2007
2004
- Hollywood Legenden as Self
2003
- The Making of ‘Sneakers’ as Self
2001
- The Last Brickmaker in America as Henry Cobb
- Quincy Jones: In the Pocket as Self
1999
- The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn as Noah Dearborn
- Free of Eden as Will Cleamons
1998
- David and Lisa as Dr. Jack Miller
- Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist as Reverend Msimangu (archive footage)
1997
- The Jackal as Carter Preston
- Mandela and de Klerk as Nelson Mandela
- Afro Promo as Self (archive footage)
1996
- To Sir, with Love II as Mark Thackeray
1995
- Children of the Dust as Gypsy Smith
- Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick as Self
1992
- Sneakers as Crease
1991
- Separate but Equal as Thurgood Marshall
- Separate But Equal as Thurgood Marshall
1990
- Ghost Dad ... (Director)
1988
- Shoot to Kill as Warren Stantin
- Little Nikita as Roy Parmenter
- Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night as Self - Audience Member
1985
- Night of 100 Stars II as Self
- Fast Forward ... (Director)
1984
- I Love Quincy as Self
1982
- Hanky Panky ... (Director)
1980
- Stir Crazy ... (Director)
1979
- Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist as Narrator (voice)
1978
- The Kennedy Center Honors as Self
1977
- A Piece of the Action as Manny Durrell
1975
- Let's Do It Again as Clyde Williams
- The Wilby Conspiracy as Shack Twala
1974
- Uptown Saturday Night as Steve Jackson
1973
- The American Film Institute Salute to ... as Self
- A Warm December as Dr. Matt Younger
1972
- Buck and the Preacher as Buck
- Nationtime as Self - Narrator
1971
- Film '72 as Self
- The Organization as Virgil Tibbs
- Brother John as John Kane
1970
- King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis as Self (archive footage)
- They Call Me Mister Tibbs! as Virgil Tibbs
1969
- The Lost Man as Jason Higgs
- Three Young Americans in Search of Survival as Himself
1968
- The Dick Cavett Show as Self - Guest
- For Love of Ivy as Jack Parks
1967
- Omnibus
- In the Heat of the Night as Virgil Tibbs
- To Sir, with Love as Mark Thackeray
- Guess Who's Coming to Dinner as John Prentice
1966
- ABC Stage 67 as Self - Host
- Duel at Diablo as Toller
- The Strolling '20s as Self
1965
- The Greatest Story Ever Told as Simon of Cyrene
- The Bedford Incident as Ben Munceford
- A Patch of Blue as Gordon Ralfe
- The Slender Thread as Alan Newell
- A Cinderella Named Elizabeth as Self
1964
- The Long Ships as Aly Mansuh
1963
- Lilies of the Field as Homer Smith
1962
- The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson as Self
- The Merv Griffin Show as Self
- Pressure Point as Doctor
1961
- The Mike Douglas Show as Self
- A Raisin in the Sun as Walter Lee Younger
- Paris Blues as Eddie Cook
1960
- All the Young Men as Sgt. Eddie Towler
1959
- Porgy and Bess as Porgy
- Virgin Island as Marcus
1958
- The Defiant Ones as Noah Cullen
1957
- Tonight Starring Jack Paar as Self
- Edge of the City as Tommy Tyler
- Band of Angels as Rau-Ru
- Something of Value as Kimani Wa Karanja
- The Mark of the Hawk as Obam
1956
- Tony Awards as Self - Presenter
- Cinépanorama as Self
- Good-bye, My Lady as Gates Watson
1955
- Blackboard Jungle as Gregory W. Miller
- A Man Is Ten Feet Tall as Tommy Tyler
1954
- Go Man Go as Inman Jackson
1953
- The Oscars as Self
- Kraft Television Theatre
1952
- Omnibus
- The Red Ball Express as Robertson
1951
- Cry, the Beloved Country as Reverend Msimangu
1950
- No Way Out as Luther Brooks
1947
- Sepia Cinderella as Nightclub Extra (uncredited)
1944
- Golden Globe Awards as Self - Nominee