Sidney Poitier
Bahamian and American actor and diplomat (1927-2022) · United States · Actors · Died at 94 · also Bahamas
Sidney Poitier is read about 3,631 times a day, in 93 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 15 October 2026
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Something wrong?He cracked Hollywood's color line at the absolute height of its power, stepping through doors that hadn't existed and then holding them open. The first Black actor to win the Oscar for Best Actor, in 1964, when that fact alone rewired what American cinema thought possible.
A life in dates
Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles ProjectFilm2006Marian Anderson AwardAward2002Academy Honorary AwardAward2001Grammy Award for Best Audio Book, Narration & Storytelling RecordingAward2000“I would like to grow less afraid of dying. I am infinitely less afraid today than I was 15 or 25 years ago.”In their wordsOctober 2000"Oprah Talks to Sidney Poitier", O Magazine (October 2000)“If you are anxious about death, then you don't have a sense of the oneness of things - you feel that after death, you will be no more.”In their wordsOctober 2000"Oprah Talks to Sidney Poitier", O Magazine (October 2000)“When you’re addressing power, don’t expect it to crumble willingly.”In their wordsThe Measure of a Man : A Spiritual Autobiography“Compassion for other human beings has to extend to the society that’s been grinding the powerless under its heel.”In their wordsVariant:NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic SpecialAward, 20001997
The JackalFilm, Carter Preston1994Star on Hollywood Walk of FameAward1992AFI Life Achievement AwardAward1991
Separate but EqualSeries, Thurgood Marshall1990
Ghost DadFilm, Director1982
Hanky PankyFilm, Director1981Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille AwardAward1978Black Filmmakers Hall of FameAward
The Kennedy Center HonorsSeries, 19781977
A Piece of the ActionFilm, Director1974
Uptown Saturday NightFilm, Director1971Film '72Series1970
They Call Me Mister Tibbs!Film, Virgil Tibbs1968Henrietta AwardAwardSilver Shell for Best ActorAward1967
OmnibusSeries1966
ABC Stage 67Series
Duel at DiabloFilm, 1966Toller1964
The Long ShipsFilm, Aly Mansuh1963Silver BearAward1962
Pressure PointFilm, Doctor1961
The Mike Douglas ShowSeries1958Silver BearAward
The Defiant OnesFilm, 1958Noah Cullen1956
CinépanoramaSeries1955
Blackboard JungleFilm, Gregory W. Miller1953Kraft Television TheatreSeries1950
No Way OutFilm, Luther Brooks1944
Golden Globe AwardsSeries1927Born20 February 1927Also in Deutsch
Photos 8
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In their own words 7
, The older we get the less afraid we are.
The great disease of mankind is ignorance. With knowledge you can grasp tight a belief: that you can be better, that the world can be better. With that, you can claim hope.
I would like to grow less afraid of dying. I am infinitely less afraid today than I was 15 or 25 years ago.
Filmography 40
RWRemembering Gene Wilder
SISidneyMPMr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project
TDThe Simple Life of Noah DearbornTJThe Jackal
TITo Sir, with Love II
SNSneakersGDGhost Dad
SKShoot to Kill
LNLittle Nikita
RNRoy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White NightHPHanky Panky
SCStir CrazyAAA Piece of the Action
TCThe Wilby Conspiracy
LALet's Do It AgainUNUptown Saturday Night
BPBuck and the Preacher
TOThe OrganizationTTThey Call Me Mister Tibbs!
INIn the Heat of the Night
GDGuess Who's Coming to Dinner
TLTo Sir, with LoveDDDuel at Diablo
TTThe Greatest Story Ever Told
ABA Patch of Blue
TIThe Bedford Incident
TTThe Slender ThreadTSThe Long Ships
LFLilies of the FieldPPPressure Point
ASA Raisin in the Sun
PBParis Blues
PBPorgy and BessTOThe Defiant Ones
ECEdge of the City
BABand of AngelsBJBlackboard Jungle
TEThe Red Ball ExpressNONo Way Out119 credits on file
Television 20
HBHollywood Black
CDChildren of the DustSESeparate but EqualTHThe Kennedy Center Honors
TTThe American Film Institute Salute to ...
TSThe Dick Cavett ShowOMOmnibusASABC Stage 67
TCThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
TSThe Merv Griffin ShowTSThe Mike Douglas Show
TPTonight Starring Jack Paar
TATony AwardsCICinépanorama
TOThe Oscars
OMOmnibus
TPThe Philco Television PlayhouseGAGolden Globe AwardsAwards
Family
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Born in Miami during a family visit from the Bahamas in 1927, Poitier grew up in the islands before moving to New York at sixteen and joining the American Negro Theatre. His breakthrough came in 1955's Blackboard Jungle, followed by The Defiant Ones in 1958, which earned him the first Best Actor nomination for an African American. The Academy Award came in 1964 for Lilies of the Field, the same year he won the Golden Globe. By 1967 he starred in three films that made race their subject - To Sir, with Love, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, In the Heat of the Night - and the next year was voted the country's top box-office draw. He turned to directing in the seventies, helming Buck and the Preacher and Stir Crazy, and later served as Bahamian Ambassador to Japan from 1997 to 2007. He died in January 2022, one of the last from Hollywood's golden age.
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