Sidney Poitier American Actor (1927–2022)

American actor Sidney Poitier was born on 20 February 1927 in Miami. He passed away on 6 January 2022 at the age of 94. His best-known titles on this site are Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) and The Jackal (1997).

Career

Records list No Way Out (1950) as his earliest screen credit. In the 1950s, he appeared in Blackboard Jungle (1955) and The Defiant Ones (1958). The 1960s brought Lilies of the Field (1963) and In the Heat of the Night (1967, as Virgil Tibbs). His 1980s credits include Shoot to Kill (1988) and Little Nikita (1988). During the 1990s, he worked on Sneakers (1992) and Mandela and de Klerk (1997).

In all, 53 films and one TV series appear in his credits from 1950 to 2016. Drama is the most frequent genre among his listed titles (5), followed by action (2) and crime (2). His screen work on record ends with I Am Not Your Negro in 2016. He is also credited as director on 9 titles, including Stir Crazy.

Bill Cosby appears in three of his listed titles, including Uptown Saturday Night (1974) and Let's Do It Again (1975). Another co-star who recurs in his credits is Martin Landau (two titles). The records also show one album, Poitier Meets Plato (1964).

Recognition

Sidney Poitier received the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1964 for Lilies of the Field. Further recognition came with an Academy Honorary Award (2002) and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama (1963) for Lilies of the Field. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1959 for The Defiant Ones. His awards record shows 27 wins and 24 nominations.

Public roles

Sidney Poitier was ambassador of the Bahamas between 1997 and 2007. He held the position of ambassador of the Bahamas from 2002 until 2007.

Personal life

He married Joanna Shimkus in 1976. Earlier marriages on record are to Juanita Hardy (1950 to 1965, divorced). He was the father of Sydney Tamiia Poitier, and has 6 children in total.