Sidney Poitier Biography, Age, Death, Wife, Children, Family, Facts, Awards, Wiki & More

Short Biography

Sidney Poitier was born on 20-02-1927 in Miami in the state of Florida, United States. He was a Bahamian-American Film Actor, Film Director, Film Producer, Television Producer, Television Actor, Theatre Actor, Writer, Author, Autobiographer, Diplomat, Recording Artist & Activist who was well known for his work in Hollywood. 

Sidney Poitier Complete Bio & Career

Movie star Sidney Poitier was born in 1927. He grew up on Cat Island, Bahamas and later moved to the United States. In 1944 he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served a brief stint in a medical unit until he was discharged in 1946. Afterward, he applied to the American Negro Theatre (ANT) in New York City and soon became their first black male performer.

When he was rejected for a place at the prestigious ANT because of his accent, he practiced American enunciation and reapplied six months later. This time, because his pronunciation had improved, he was accepted and began studying acting in addition to appearing in one of ANT’s productions.Lysistrata had his Broadway debut in 1946.

A Pioneer in Hollywood

Poitier's first film role was in No Way Out, in which he played a Black doctor who treats a racist white criminal (1950). A pattern emerged for Poitier and for the Black actors who followed him: by refusing roles that played to racial stereotypes, Poitier pushed the restrictive boundaries set by Hollywood and made inroads into the American mainstream.

Poitier's fame skyrocketed in the 1950s, when he starred in a series of critically acclaimed dramas that addressed themes of race and class.Poitier portrays a dockworker in Edge of the City (1957), whose relationship with a white coworker (John Cassavetes) enrages a racist union head. There's No Way Out (1950),Poitier played a Black doctor who heals a racist white convict in his first credited film role.The melodrama starred Poitier as a rebellious slave whose master (Clark Gable) buys a slave's daughter (Yvonne De Carlo) during the American Civil War. Her family discovers she is half-black after her father's death, and she is sold into slavery.

As a film director, Poitier is a game - changer

In 1972, Poitier directed Buck and the Preacher. He next directed A Warm December, in which he played a doctor who falls in love with a woman (Esther Anderson) who has sickle cell anemia.Both films were box office flops, but Uptown Saturday Night was a huge blockbuster. Poitier did not act in Stir Crazy (1980), a movie produced by Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. The film was an enormous box-office hit. Poitier's film was a flop. Hanky Panky (1982), a musical about break dancers, starred Wilder and his real-life wife, Gilda Radner. Poitier's final directorial effort, Ghost Dad (1990), saw Cosby return, although the picture fell short of their previous achievements. dancers.Poitier's final directorial effort, Ghost Dad (1990), even though picture dropped of their previous successes.