Tibbs!” - from “In the Heat of the Night.” He developed a steady, but resolved and occasionally humorous persona crystallized in his most famous line - “They call me Mr. He refused to play cowards and took on characters, especially in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” of almost divine goodness. Poitier was held, and held himself, to standards well above his white peers. He was subjected to bigotry from whites and accusations of compromise from the Black community.
His appeal brought him burdens not unlike such other historical figures as Jackie Robinson and the Rev. In 2009 President Barack Obama, whose own steady bearing was sometimes compared to Poitier’s, awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, saying that the actor “not only entertained but enlightened … revealing the power of the silver screen to bring us closer together.” 1 star of 1967, the first time a Black actor topped the list. Poitier peaked in 1967 with three of the year’s most notable movies: “To Sir, With Love,” in which he starred as a school teacher who wins over his unruly students at a London secondary school “In the Heat of the Night,” as the determined police detective Virgil Tibbs and in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” as the prominent doctor who wishes to marry a young white woman he only recently met, her parents played by Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn in their final film together. “I made films when the only other Black on the lot was the shoeshine boy,” he recalled in a 1988 Newsweek interview. With his handsome, flawless face intense stare and disciplined style, he was for years not just the most popular Black movie star, but the only one. In one of the great roles of the stage and screen, he was the ambitious young father whose dreams clashed with those of other family members in Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun.”ĭebates about diversity in Hollywood inevitably turn to the story of Poitier.
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He was the escaped Black convict who befriends a racist white prisoner (Tony Curtis) in “The Defiant Ones.” He was the courtly office worker who falls in love with a blind white girl in “A Patch of Blue.” He was the handyman in “Lilies of the Field” who builds a church for a group of nuns. As racial attitudes evolved during the civil rights era and segregation laws were challenged and fell, Poitier was the performer to whom a cautious industry turned for stories of progress. Poitier’s rise mirrored profound changes in the country in the 1950s and 1960s. Before Poitier, Hollywood filmmakers rarely even attempted to tell a Black person’s story. Before Poitier, few Black actors were permitted a break from the stereotypes of bug-eyed servants and grinning entertainers. Before Poitier, the son of Bahamian tomato farmers, no Black actor had a sustained career as a lead performer or could get a film produced based on his own star power. Poitier, winner of the best actor Oscar in 1964 for “Lilies of the Field,” died Thursday in the Bahamas, according to Eugene Torchon-Newry, acting director general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Bahamas.įew movie stars, Black or white, had such an influence both on and off the screen.
The movie earned both Poitier and Curtis Oscar nominations and a Best Picture nod for the movie.NEW YORK (AP) - Sidney Poitier, the groundbreaking actor and enduring inspiration who transformed how Black people were portrayed on screen, became the first Black actor to win an Academy Award for best lead performance and the first to be a top box-office draw, has died. The movie was a commercial and critical success, showcasing Poitier's raw talent. Three years later, he starred opposite Tony Curtis in "The Defiant Ones." The pair played escaped prisoners who are chained together. Hollywood soon came calling, and he landed the role of a doctor treating a bigot in the 1950 movie "No Way Out." In 1955, Poitier gave a breakout performance as one of the unruly kids in "Blackboard Jungle." For six months he refined his skills, which led to roles on Broadway. Struggling to connect with audiences because of his Bahamian accent, Poitier dedicated himself to the acting craft. There he would meet a lifelong friend, fellow upcoming actor Harry Belafonte. After leaving the Army a year later, he landed a spot at the American Negro Theatre. In November 1943, he lied about his age and enlisted in the Army to fight in World War II. At 16, he moved to New York City and mostly found work as a dishwasher.
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