Sidney Poitier
Birthday: 1927-02-20 | Place of Birth: Miami, Florida, USASir Sidney Poitier, KBE (February 20, 1927 - January 6, 2022) was a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat. In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field. The significance of this achievement was later bolstered in 1967 when he starred in three well-received films—To Sir, with Love; In the Heat of the Night; and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner—making him the top box office star of that year. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Poitier among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time, ranking 22nd on the list of 25. Poitier has directed a number of popular movies such as A Piece of the Action; Uptown Saturday Night, and Let's Do It Again (with friend Bill Cosby), and Stir Crazy (starring Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder). In 2002, 38 years after receiving the Best Actor Award, Poitier was chosen by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to receive an Honorary Award, designated "To Sidney Poitier in recognition of his remarkable accomplishments as an artist and as a human being." Since 1997 he has been the Bahamian ambassador to Japan. On August 12, 2009, Sidney Poitier was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States of America's highest civilian honor, by President Barack Obama.
Known For
Acting
Role
as Various Roles (archive footage)
as Self
as Noah Dearborn
as Dr. Jack Miller
as Carter Preston
as Nelson Mandela
as Gypsy Smith
as Gypsy Smith
as Crease
as Thurgood Marshall
as Roy Parmenter
as Warren Stantin
as Manny Durrell
as Clyde Williams
as Shack Twala
as Dr. Matt Younger
as Buck
as John Kane
as Virgil Tibbs
as Virgil Tibbs
as Jack Parks
as John Prentice
as Mark Thackeray
as Virgil Tibbs
as Toller
as Alan Newell
as Ben Munceford
as Gordon Ralfe
