Sidney Poitier
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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.
Known for
Credits
The Jackal (1997)
as Carter Preston
Sneakers (1992)
as Crease
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
as Virgil Tibbs
Sidney (2022)
as Self
To Sir, with Love (1967)
as Mark Thackeray
The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
as Simon of Cyrene
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
as John Prentice
Shoot to Kill (1988)
as Warren Stantin
The Organization (1971)
as Virgil Tibbs
The Defiant Ones (1958)
as Noah Cullen
Paris Blues (1961)
as Eddie Cook
They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970)
as Virgil Tibbs
Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night (1988)
as Self - Audience Member
Lilies of the Field (1963)
as Homer Smith
Buck and the Preacher (1972)
as Buck
A Raisin in the Sun (1961)
as Walter Lee Younger
Little Nikita (1988)
as Roy Parmenter
The Red Ball Express (1952)
as Robertson
A Patch of Blue (1965)
as Gordon Ralfe
The Bedford Incident (1965)
as Ben Munceford
The Long Ships (1964)
as Aly Mansuh
Blackboard Jungle (1955)
as Gregory W. Miller
The Wilby Conspiracy (1975)
as Shack Twala
Duel at Diablo (1966)
as Toller
King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970)
as Self (archive footage)
The Resurrection of Christ (2026)
Actor
Edge of the City (1957)
as Tommy Tyler
No Way Out (1950)
as Luther Brooks
Remembering Gene Wilder (2024)
as Self (archive photos)
Night of 100 Stars II (1985)
as Self
The Slender Thread (1965)
as Alan Newell
Nationtime: Gary (1972)
as Self - Narrator
Let's Do It Again (1975)
as Clyde Williams
To Sir, with Love II (1996)
as Mark Thackeray
Uptown Saturday Night (1974)
as Steve Jackson
Band of Angels (1957)
as Rau-Ru
David and Lisa (1998)
as Dr. Jack Miller
Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist (1998)
as Reverend Msimangu (archive footage)
A Piece of the Action (1977)
as Manny Durrell
Mr. SOUL! (2018)
as Self (archive footage)
Porgy and Bess (1959)
as Porgy
Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick (1995)
as Self
The Lost Man (1969)
as Jason Higgs
Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project (2007)
as Self
The Making of ‘Sneakers’ (2003)
as Self
Pressure Point (1962)
as Doctor
For Love of Ivy (1968)
as Jack Parks
Paul Newman: The Restless (2023)
as Self
The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn (1999)
as Noah Dearborn
Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes / Feeling Heart (2017)
as Self
Sidney Poitier - The Man Who Changed Hollywood (2023)
as Self (archive footage)
Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley (2013)
as Self
Brother John (1971)
as John Kane
Separate but Equal (1991)
as Thurgood Marshall
Something of Value (1957)
as Kimani Wa Karanja
Good-bye, My Lady (1956)
as Gates Watson
Free of Eden (1999)
as Will Cleamons
Mandela and de Klerk (1997)
as Nelson Mandela
All the Young Men (1960)
as Sgt. Eddie Towler
A Warm December (1973)
as Dr. Matt Younger
Sing Your Song (2012)
as Self
Virgin Island (1959)
as Marcus
The Last Brickmaker in America (2001)
as Henry Cobb
Reinventing Elvis: The 68' Comeback (2023)
as Self (archive footage)
Sepia Cinderella (1947)
as Nightclub Extra (uncredited)
Richard Widmark: Strength of Characters (2000)
as Self
Martin Luther King and the March on Washington (2013)
as Self
A Star Without a Star: The Untold Juanita Moore Story (2022)
as Self
The Mark of the Hawk (1957)
as Obam
Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light (2000)
Actor
I Love Quincy (1984)
as Self
Go Man Go (1954)
as Inman Jackson
The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn (1986)
as Self
Cry, the Beloved Country (1951)
as Reverend Msimangu
Afro Promo (1997)
as Self (archive footage)
The Strolling '20s (1966)
as Self
Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist (1979)
as Narrator (voice)
Hollywood Legenden (2004)
as Self
Quincy Jones: In the Pocket (2001)
as Self
The Madding Crowd (2017)
as Self (archive footage)
A Man Is Ten Feet Tall (1955)
as Tommy Tyler
A Cinderella Named Elizabeth (1965)
as Self
Three Young Americans in Search of Survival (1969)
as Himself
Poitier's Walter Lee (2018)
as Self (archive footage)