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
Paris Blues (1961)
as Eddie Cook
To Sir, with Love (1967)
as Mark Thackeray
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
as Det. Virgil Tibbs
Sidney (2022)
as Self
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
as John Prentice
The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
as Simon of Cyrene
Lilies of the Field (1963)
as Homer Smith
The Wilby Conspiracy (1975)
as Shack Twala
A Patch of Blue (1965)
as Gordon Ralfe
They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970)
as Virgil Tibbs
The Organization (1971)
as Virgil Tibbs
The Resurrection of Christ (2026)
Actor
A Piece of the Action (1977)
as Manny Durrell
A Raisin in the Sun (1961)
as Walter Lee Younger
The Defiant Ones (1958)
as Noah Cullen
Blackboard Jungle (1955)
as Gregory W. Miller
Shoot to Kill (1988)
as Warren Stantin
David and Lisa (1998)
as Dr. Jack Miller
Nationtime: Gary (1972)
as Self - Narrator
Buck and the Preacher (1972)
as Buck
The Making of ‘Sneakers’ (2003)
as Self
Paul Newman: The Restless (2023)
as Self (archive footage)
Mr. SOUL! (2018)
as Self (archive footage)
The Bedford Incident (1965)
as Ben Munceford
Little Nikita (1988)
as Roy Parmenter
The Long Ships (1964)
as Aly Mansuh
Sepia Cinderella (1947)
as Nightclub Extra (uncredited)
Duel at Diablo (1966)
as Toller
Band of Angels (1957)
as Rau-Ru
Free of Eden (1999)
as Will Cleamons
Good-bye, My Lady (1956)
as Gates Watson
To Sir, with Love II (1996)
as Mark Thackeray
Let's Do It Again (1975)
as Clyde Williams
Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light (2000)
Actor
King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970)
as Self (archive footage)
No Way Out (1950)
as Luther Brooks
Sing Your Song (2012)
as Self
Edge of the City (1957)
as Tommy Tyler
Uptown Saturday Night (1974)
as Steve Jackson
I Love Quincy (1984)
as Self
The Red Ball Express (1952)
as Robertson
Reinventing Elvis: The 68' Comeback (2023)
as Self (archive footage)
Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist (1979)
as Narrator (voice)
The Lost Man (1969)
as Jason Higgs
Pressure Point (1962)
as Doctor
A Warm December (1973)
as Dr. Matt Younger
Night of 100 Stars II (1985)
as Self
Porgy and Bess (1959)
as Porgy
Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night (1988)
as Self - Audience Member
Richard Widmark: Strength of Characters (2000)
as Self
Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley (2013)
as Self
The Slender Thread (1965)
as Alan Newell
The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn (1999)
as Noah Dearborn
For Love of Ivy (1968)
as Jack Parks
The Madding Crowd (2017)
as Self (archive footage)
Something of Value (1957)
as Kimani Wa Karanja
The Mark of the Hawk (1957)
as Obam
All the Young Men (1960)
as Sgt. Eddie Towler
Remembering Gene Wilder (2024)
as Self (archive photos)
Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project (2007)
as Self
Separate but Equal (1991)
as Thurgood Marshall
A Century of Cinema (1994)
as Self
Cry, the Beloved Country (1951)
as Reverend Msimangu
The Last Brickmaker in America (2001)
as Henry Cobb
Three Young Americans in Search of Survival (1969)
as Himself
Brother John (1971)
as John Kane
Sidney Poitier - The Man Who Changed Hollywood (2023)
as Self (archive footage)
The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn (1986)
as Self
Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist (1998)
as Reverend Msimangu (archive footage)
Mandela and de Klerk (1997)
as Nelson Mandela
Poitier's Walter Lee (2018)
as Self (archive footage)
Martin Luther King and the March on Washington (2013)
as Self
The Strolling '20s (1966)
as Self
Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick (1995)
as Self
Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes / Feeling Heart (2017)
as Self
A Star Without a Star: The Untold Juanita Moore Story (2025)
as Self
Virgin Island (1959)
as Marcus
Quincy Jones: In the Pocket (2001)
as Self
A Man Is Ten Feet Tall (1955)
as Tommy Tyler
Go Man Go (1954)
as Inman Jackson
Afro Promo (1997)
as Self (archive footage)
A Cinderella Named Elizabeth (1965)
as Self
Hollywood Legenden (2004)
as Self