Sidney Poitier
Known for Acting
Sidney Poitier KBE (February 20, 1927 – January 6, 2022) was a Bahamian and American actor, film director, and diplomat. In 1964, he became the first black actor and first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, for Lilies of the Field. Other accolades include two competitive Golden Globe Awards, a competitive British Academy of Film and Television Arts award (BAFTA), and a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album. Major films featuring Poitier in a starring role include Blackboard Jungle (1955), The Defiant Ones (1958), To Sir, with Love (1967), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), In the Heat of the Night (1967), Sneakers (1992), and The Jackal (1997). Later in his career, he turned to directing with features such as Buck and the Preacher (1972), Uptown Saturday Night (1974), Stir Crazy (1980), and Ghost Dad (1990). At the time of his death, Poitier was one of the last major stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema.
Filmography
Sneakers
1992
as Crease
The Jackal
1997
as Carter Preston
They Call Me Mister Tibbs!
1970
as Virgil Tibbs
In the Heat of the Night
1967
as Virgil Tibbs
The Greatest Story Ever Told
1965
as Simon of Cyrene
To Sir, with Love
1967
as Mark Thackeray
Shoot to Kill
1988
as Warren Stantin
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
1967
as John Prentice
No Way Out
1950
as Luther Brooks
The Defiant Ones
1958
as Noah Cullen
Duel at Diablo
1966
as Toller
The Organization
1971
as Virgil Tibbs
The Bedford Incident
1965
as Ben Munceford
Edge of the City
1957
as Tommy Tyler
A Patch of Blue
1965
as Gordon Ralfe
Lilies of the Field
1963
as Homer Smith
Sidney
2022
as Self
Buck and the Preacher
1972
as Buck
A Raisin in the Sun
1961
as Walter Lee Younger
Little Nikita
1988
as Roy Parmenter