“More than an actor (and Academy-Award winner), Sidney Poitier is an artist. A writer and director, a thinker and critic, a humanitarian and diplomat, his presence as a cultural icon has long been one of protest and humanity. His career defined and documented the modern history of blacks in American film, and his depiction of proud and powerful characters was and remains revolutionary.” -- “American Masters” webpage

Birth Sidney Poitier was born in 1927 in Miami, Florida. He was actually born prematurely, on a boat on the way to Miami, and was not expected to live. Hometown/Family/Childhood background He grew up in Cat Island, a small village of 1500 people, in the Bahamas. Cat Island had no electricity. His father was a Bahamian of Haitian background. His mother was from the Bahamas. His parents farmed, and would travel to Miami to sell their produce. They were very poor. When he was 11, Sidney was sent to live with relatives in Nassau, so that he could find a job. It was then that he saw a movie for the first time. He began to show signs of becoming a juvenile delinquent, so at the age of 16 he was sent to live with his brother in Miami.

Education/Training Poitier moved to New York City when he was 18, and held a lot of menial jobs. After being arrested for vagrancy (sleeping on a park bench), he spent a short time in the army. After the army, his first attempt at acting was a failure. He was told to go wash dishes until he no longer sounded like a dish washer. His Bahamian accent was a problem. He then spent 6 months dedicating himself to losing his accent and improving his acting skills. He was hired by the American Negro Theater, where he understudied Harry Belafonte in the play Days of Our Youth, and went on to perform one night, making his public debut. He was a hit acting in Lysistrata, and he continued performing on stage until 1950.

Big Break Poitier made his first film, No Way Out, in 1950. He played a doctor treating a bigot, and the performance brought him a lot of attention, and made him a hero in the Bahamas. The colonial government of the Bahamas considered the film too explosive, and censored it. The protest in response to this helped create the political party that eventually overturned the islands’ British rule. Throughout the 50’s, Poitier made many controversial movies that dealt with racial equality and apartheid. These titles include Cry, the Beloved Country, Blackboard Jungle and The Defiant Ones, for which he received his first Oscar nomination.

Best Actor - 1963

Most famous roles/films/plays In addition to his work in The Defiant Ones and A Raisin in the Sun, Poitier’s most famous roles are in In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. By the end of the sixties, Poitier was one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. After the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X, certain parts of the black community criticized Poitier for being too politically passive. He returned to the Bahamas for a time to contemplate his life. When he returned, he began directing. His films as director include Buck and the Preacher, Uptown Saturday Night, Let’s Do It Again, and Stir Crazy.

After the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr After the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X, certain parts of the black community criticized Poitier for being too politically passive. He returned to the Bahamas for a time to contemplate his life. When he returned, he began directing. His films as director include Buck and the Preacher, Uptown Saturday Night, Let’s Do It Again, and Stir Crazy. In 1974, he was knighted as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, which means that he can be called “Sir.” In 1992, he received the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award. In 1995, he received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. In 1997, he was appointed as the non-resident Bahamian ambassador to Japan. In 1999, he was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors. In 2001, he received the NAACP Image Award – Hall of Fame Award. In 2002, Poitier received an honorary Oscar: “To Sidney Poitier in recognition of his remarkable accomplishments as an artist and as a human being." This was the same historic evening when Denzel Washington and Halle Berry won their Best Actor and Actress Oscars. In 2009, he received the Presedential Medal of Freedom.

A good quotation that pertains to acting “I decided in my life that I would do nothing that did not reflect positively on my father's life.” “. . . I had to be careful. I recognized the responsibility that, whether I liked it or not, I had to accept whatever the obligation was. That was to behave in a manner, to carry myself in such a professional way, as if there ever is a reflection, it's a positive one.”

https://youtu.be/mnjTANhBu3k