Sidney Poitier
Actor
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
The Jackal
as Carter Preston 1997
In the Heat of the Night
as Virgil Tibbs 1967
Sneakers
as Crease 1992
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
as John Prentice 1967
To Sir, with Love
as Mark Thackeray 1967
The Defiant Ones
as Noah Cullen 1958
Shoot to Kill
as Warren Stantin 1988
Lilies of the Field
as Homer Smith 1963
The Greatest Story Ever Told
as Simon of Cyrene 1965
Blackboard Jungle
as Gregory W. Miller 1955
A Raisin in the Sun
as Walter Lee Younger 1961
A Patch of Blue
as Gordon Ralfe 1965
Little Nikita
as Roy Parmenter 1988
Duel at Diablo
as Toller 1966
No Way Out
as Luther Brooks 1950
They Call Me Mister Tibbs!
as Virgil Tibbs 1970
The Bedford Incident
as Ben Munceford 1965