Bookish Life of Sidney Poitier

Legendary histrion and manager Sidney Poitier, who died earlier this year, was calved connected February 20, 1927, 2 months early, portion his Bahamian parents were vacationing successful Miami, Florida. He was raised connected their workplace connected Cat Island, Bahamas, and aboriginal successful Nassau, Bahamas, and sent to unrecorded successful Florida astatine property 15. Finding it hard to header with the racism of the Jim Crowe south, and wishing to prosecute an acting career, helium moved northbound to New York City astatine property 16. There helium auditioned for the American Negro Theater, but was turned down due to the fact that helium was a anemic reader. According to the 2004 biography Sidney Poitier: Man, Actor, Icon by Aram Goudsouzian, an aged Jewish neighbour taught him to work utilizing the newspaper.

After a twelvemonth successful the Army — helium lied astir his property to get successful and faked a intelligence unwellness to get retired — helium erstwhile again auditioned for the American Negro Theater, this clip getting in. However, audiences struggled with his Bahamian accent and were displeased that helium couldn’t sing, truthful helium spent respective months grooming his voice. He was fixed the starring relation successful a Broadway accumulation of Lysistrata, which ran for 4 days, and past became an understudy for Anna Lucasta, a play by Philip Yordan that reimagined Eugene O’Neill’s Anna Christie.

He was a founding subordinate of the Committee for the Negro successful the Arts, a leftist radical focused connected analyzing portrayals of contention successful the arts, which led to his being blacklisted successful Hollywood, though that didn’t last. One of his earliest roles was the secondary pb successful Cry, the Beloved Country, based connected the caller Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton. He besides appeared successful Go Man Go, a movie astir the instauration of the Harlem Globetrotters directed by famed cinematographer James Wong Howe, 1 of the earliest palmy Chinese Americans successful Hollywood. While that movie was from an archetypal script, his precise adjacent relation was successful The Blackboard Jungle, based connected the caller The Blackboard Jungle by Evan Hunter. He was asked to motion a loyalty pledge earlier appearing successful The Blackboard Jungle, but did not.

A country from Cry, the Beloved Country

By the precocious 1950s Poitier was juggling offers for the signifier and question pictures, and successful 1 specified determination helium ended up starring successful The Defiant Ones other Tony Curtis, arsenic men connected a concatenation gang. Another archetypal screenplay, that show earned him a information for an Academy Award for Best Actor, the archetypal ever for a Black actor. He past returned to the signifier successful the archetypal Broadway accumulation of A Raisin successful the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, winning a Tony Award. He past starred successful the movie adaptation of Porgy and Bess arsenic good arsenic the movie adaptation of A Raisin successful the Sun, earning Golden Globe Awards for both. Then, successful 1963, helium starred successful Lilies of the Field, based connected the publication Lilies of the Field by William Edmund Barrett, and that show won the Academy Award, the archetypal clip it was awarded to a Black actor.

Hoping to usage his Oscar clout to request roles of little appeasing, passive men, helium recorded an medium of Plato readings earlier starring successful 3 of his astir celebrated roles, each successful 1967. To Sir, with Love was based connected the caller To Sir, With Love by E.R. Braithwaite; Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner was an archetypal screenplay; and In The Heat of the Night was based connected the caller In the Heat of the Night by John Ball and introduced audiences to the quality Virgil Tibbs, who Poitier would represent doubly much successful They Call Me Mister Tibbs! and The Organization. The movie famously features a country successful which a racist achromatic antheral slaps Mr. Tibbs, who promptly slaps him back. The movie was precise good received critically, and was adjacent 1 of Akira Kurosawa’s favourite films, according to Far Out.

A country from successful the Heat of the Night

In the 1970s, Poitier expanded his talents to directing, opening with Buck and the Preacher, starring himself arsenic Buck and Harry Belafonte arsenic the Preacher. The 2 were lifelong friends who met successful the American Negro Theater and were progressive successful the Civil Rights Movement. The movie besides reunited him with his Broadway costar Ruby Dee. He produced the movie with Belafonte, and they primitively hired achromatic manager Joseph Sargent, but fired him a fewer days into filming owed to his deficiency of knowing of the film’s radical themes.

Poitier continued to enactment and direct, and helium wrote 3 autobiographies: This Life successful 1980, The Measure of a Man successful 2000, and Life Beyond Measure successful 2008. He was besides the taxable of 2 biographies: 2004’s Sidney Poitier: Man, Actor, Icon by Aram Goudsouzian and the 2020 publication Sidney Poitier Black and White by Philip Powers. Poitier besides wrote 1 novel, 2013’s Montaro Caine.

Poitier has received galore awards and acknowledgements for his accomplishments, including the Oscar, Tony, Golden Globe, and BFA. He was fixed Kennedy Center Honors successful 1995, received the Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama, won an AFI Lifetime Achievement Award, and was made an honorary Knight Commander successful the OBE by Queen Elizabeth. The lobby of the Academy Museum successful Los Angeles is named for him, and a helium has a prima connected the Hollywood Walk of Fame arsenic good arsenic an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the University of Miami.