A gifted, handsome leading man, generally acknowledged as Hollywood's first black superstar and the first black performer to win an Oscar as Best Actor ("Lilies of the Field" 1963), Sidney Poitier grew up in humble circumstances in The Bahamas, British West Indies and moved to the USA at age 15 to live with his brother in Miami, FL. After serving in the US Army during World War II as a physiotherapist, he joined the American Negro Theater, making his Broadway debut as understudy for all the male roles in their all-black production of Aristophanes' "Lysistrata" (1946). Poitier starred on Broadway the following year in "Anna Lucasta" and made his feature debut (along with Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis) in Joseph L Mankiewicz's "No Way Out" (1950). Memorable performances as a manly and striking preacher in "Cry, the Beloved Country" (1952), a troubled youth in Richard Brooks' "The Blackboard Jungle" (1955) and as John Cassavetes' understanding friend in Martin Ritt's "Edge of the City" (1957) preceded the international recognition he received for his Oscar-nominated work in "The Defiant Ones" (1958).
Poitier returned to Broadway, starring in Lorraine Hansberry's groundbreaking "A Raisin in the Sun" (1959). The first Broadway play written by a black woman, it was also the first directed by a black man (Lloyd Richards), and the dignified, sedate, intelligent Poitier would reprise his role in the film version two years later, beginning a string of commanding performances at the very core of his body of work. In addition to his Academy Award-winning turn in "Lilies of the Field", he starred in "A Patch of Blue" (1965), "In the Heat of the Night" and "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (both 1967), all turning upon the issue of race (and all winning Oscars for fellow actors Shelley Winters, Rod Steiger and Katharine Hepburn) as well as some which didn't--"A Slender Thread" and "The Bedford Incident" (both 1965). Poitier's international popularity and the mainstream middle-class roles he played during this period (authority figures such as doctors, law officers, teachers) helped pave the way for the commercial black cinema of the early 70s and were instrumental in allowing blacks to appear in less stereotypical screen roles.
Poitier debuted first as a director on Broadway, helming "Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights" (1968), and launched his second career in features with "Buck and the Preacher" (1972). He would direct five films, including "A Warm December" (1973) and the immensely popular "Uptown Saturday Night" (1974), before finally directing a film in which he did not also act, the profitable Richard Pryor-Gene Wilder pairing in "Stir Crazy" (1980). After a decade away from acting, Poitier made a much-publicized return to the screen in 1988, working opposite Tom Berenger in Roger Spottiswoode's thriller "Shoot to Kill" and playing an FBI agent in "Little Nikita". The 90s saw him assume a higher profile as a performer while putting directing on the back burner. In addition to his feature roles in movies like the high-tech caper yarn "Sneakers" (1992) and Michael Caton-Jones' political thriller "The Jackal" (1997), Poitier turned in celebrated portrayals for the small screen in the miniseries "Separate But Equal" (ABC, 1991), as Thurgood Marshall, "Children of the Dust" (CBS, 1995), "Mandela and De Klerk" (Showtime, 1997) and the CBS movie "To Sir, With Love II" (1996), in which he reprised his role from the 1967 feature.
Family
FATHER: Reginald James Poitier. Tomato farmer. From Cat Island in the Bahamas.
MOTHER: Evelyn Poitier. Tomato farmer. From Cat Island in the Bahamas.
BROTHER: Cyril Poitier. Born c. 1911; died on November 13, 1991 of cancer; oldest brother; helped raise Sidney; moved to Miami from Cat Island in 1929; had bit roles in Poitier's movies "Uptown Saturday Night" (1974), "Let's Do it Again" (1975) and "A Piece of the Action" (1977).
DAUGHTER: Beverly Poitier. Born in 1951; mother, Juanita Hardy.
DAUGHTER: Pamela Poitier. Born in 1952; mother, Juanita Hardy.
DAUGHTER: Sherri Poitier. Born in 1953; mother, Juanita Hardy.
DAUGHTER: Anika Poitier. Actor. Born c. 1972; mother, Joanna Shimkus.
DAUGHTER: Sydney Tamiia Poitier. Actor. Mother, Joanna Shimkus; acted with father in Showtime movie "Free of Eden" (1999).
Companion
WIFE: Juanita Hardy. Dancer. Married on April 29, 1950; divorced in 1965.
COMPANION: Diahann Carroll. Actor, singer.
WIFE: Joanna Shimkus. Actor. Married on January 23, 1976; born in 1943; met in Paris while co-starring in "The Lost Man" (1969).
Milestone
Born in Miami, Florida when parents took a trip there to sell their produce
Raised on Cat Island in the Bahamas
1940: Dropped out of school at age 13
1942: Moved to Miami at age 15 to live with his brother Cyril
Relocated to New York City where he worked as a dishwasher and busboy in restaurants
1941 - 1945: Served in the US Army as a physiotherapist
1945: Joined American Negro Theater and made stage debut in "Days of Our Youth" as Harry Belafonte's understudy
1946: Broadway debut as understudy for all of the male roles in the American Negro Theater's all-black production of "Lysistrata"
1947: Starred in the Broadway production of "Anna Lucasta"
1949: Film debut, appearing in the Army Corps documentary short, "From Whence Cometh My Help"
1950: Made feature film debut in Darryl F. Zanuck's "No Way Out"
1952: TV acting debut in NBC's "The Philco Television Playhouse"
1958: Received first Academy Award nomination for Stanley Kramer's "The Defiant Ones"; first black male to receive nomination
1959: Returned to Broadway in Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun"; first Broadway play written by a black woman; also first time a black man (Lloyd Richards) directed a Broadway show
1961: Reprised Broadway role for Daniel Petrie's film version of "A Raisin in the Sun"
1963: Became first Black actor to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for "Lilies of the Field"
1965: Portrayed an African American man, who falls in love with blind white female in "A Patch of Blue"
1967: Had starring roles in three hit movies; "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," "To Sir, With Love" and "In the Heat of the Night"
1968: Made stage directing debut with Broadway production of "Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights"
1968: Wrote original story for the film "For Love of Ivy"; also starred
1969: Formed First Artists production company with Paul Newman, Barbra Streisand and others
1970: Reprised "In the Heat of the Night" role for the sequel, "They Call Me Mister Tibbs"
1971: Once again reprised role of Virgil Tibbs for the third film, "The Organization"
1972: Feature directorial debut, "Buck and the Preacher"
1975: Directed and starred opposite Bill Cosby in "Let's Do It Again"
1977: Last feature acting role for more than a decade in "A Piece of the Action"; also directed
1980: Directed Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor in "Stir Crazy"; first time directing a feature in which he did not also act
1980: Penned his autobiography, This Life
1988: Returned to acting with roles in Roger Spottiswoode's "Shoot to Kill" and Richard Benjamin's "Little Nikita"
1991: Earned Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for his portrayal of Thurgood Marshall the ABC miniseries "Separate But Equal"
1992: Joined an all-star cast for the high-tech caper, "Sneakers"
1996: Reprised role of Mark Thackaray 30 years later in the Peter Bogdanovich directed, "To Sir, With Love II" (CBS)
1997: Co-starred with Michael Caine for the Showtime miniseries, "Mandela and De Klerk"
1997: Played FBI Deputy Director Carter Preston in Michael Caton-Jones' "The Jackal"
1999: Had lead role in the highly-rated CBS TV-movie "The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn"
2000: Helmed second autobiographical work, The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography
2001: Appeared in the CBS telefilm, "The Last Brickmaker in America"
2008: Penned his third book, Life Beyond Measure - letters to my Great-Granddaughter; earned a Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Word for the CD version
Bibliography
"This Life" Sidney Poitier 1980
"The Long Journey" Catharine Ewers 1969
"The Films of Sidney Poitier" Alvin Marill 1978
"The Cinema of Sidney Poitier" Lester J. Keyser and Andre H. Ruszkowski 1980
"The Films of Sidney Poitier" Sidney Poitier with Carol Bergman 1988
"The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography" Sidney Poitier 2000
Poiter was rated the Number 7 top money-making star in the 1967 Quigley poll of exhibitors, and placed Number 1 in 1968.
"You could characterize my career as a fairly successful and substantive one if you were to look at all 42 films I've made. Most of the scripts I did were written by whites. To require a white person to write only for whites is stupid. To require me to write only for blacks is also stupid." --Sidney Poitier at American Film Institute's Center for Advanced Film and Television Studies seminar (quoted in American Film, September/October 1991)
"Poitier's ascension to stardom in the mid-1950s was no accident. ... in this integrationist age Poitier was the model integrationist hero. In all his films he was educated and intelligent. ... His characters were tame, never did they act impulsively, nor were they threats to the system. ... And finally they were non-funky, almost sexless and sterile.
Poitier was also acceptable for black audiences. He was the paragon of black middle-class values and virtues. ... he did not carry any ghetto cultural baggage with him. No dialect. No shuffling. No African cultural past. ... he was the complete antithesis of all the black buffoons who had appeared before in American movies.
Finally, Poitier became a star because of his talent. He may have played the old tom dressed up with modern intelligence and reason, but he dignified the figure. Always on display was the actor's sensitivity and strength." --Donald Bogle ("Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies and Bucks" 1973)
He was given the William J German Human Relations Award from the American Jewish Committee in 1966.
Poitier was decorated Knight Commander for the Order of the British Empire (1974)
He received the Thurgood Marshall Lifetime Award for his longstanding committment to civil rights and excellence in the portrayal of minorities in the film and entertainment industry in 1993.
In 1997, Poitier was named the Bahamas' ambassador to Japan; the actor holds dual citizenship
"No one expected that the son of a tomato farmer and a semi-literate lady would ever make a stir of any consequence. I flirted with reform school. I was an incorrigible kid to some extent. I didn't know where I was, who I was, or what I was. And the society in which I lived didn't care too much.
There was a teacher in the Carribean. His name was Mr Fawkes and he taught like Thackeray [Poitier's character in "To Sir With Love"]. He was so remarkable. He used to tell us stories about those places beyond our limited horizon.
He stimulated our imagination and nurtured it. I learned how to daydream and that, after all, is what I apply when I work nowadays." --Poitier to Daily News, April 7, 1996
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