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. He was 94.
Poitier, winner of the best actor Oscar in 1964 for B次元官网网址淟ilies of the Field,B次元官网网址� died Thursday in the Bahamas, according to Eugene Torchon-Newry, acting director general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Bahamas.
Few movie stars, Black or white, had such an influence both on and off the screen. 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. Before Poitier, few Black actors were permitted a break from the stereotypes of bug-eyed servants and grinning entertainers. Before Poitier, Hollywood filmmakers rarely even attempted to tell a Black personB次元官网网址檚 story.
PoitierB次元官网网址檚 rise mirrored profound changes in the country in the 1950s and 1960s. 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.
He was the escaped Black convict who befriends a racist white prisoner (Tony Curtis) in B次元官网网址淭he Defiant Ones.B次元官网网址� He was the courtly office worker who falls in love with a blind white girl in B次元官网网址淎 Patch of Blue.B次元官网网址� He was the handyman in B次元官网网址淟ilies of the FieldB次元官网网址� who builds a church for a group of nuns. 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 HansberryB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淎 Raisin in the Sun.B次元官网网址�
Debates about diversity in Hollywood inevitably turn to the story of Poitier. 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.
B次元官网网址淚 made films when the only other Black on the lot was the shoeshine boy,B次元官网网址� he recalled in a 1988 B次元官网网址week interview. B次元官网网址淚 was kind of the lone guy in town.B次元官网网址�
Poitier peaked in 1967 with three of the yearB次元官网网址檚 most notable movies: B次元官网网址淭o Sir, With Love,B次元官网网址� in which he starred as a school teacher who wins over his unruly students at a London secondary school; B次元官网网址淚n the Heat of the Night,B次元官网网址� as the determined police detective Virgil Tibbs; and in B次元官网网址淕uess WhoB次元官网网址檚 Coming to Dinner,B次元官网网址� 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.
Theater owners named Poitier the No. 1 star of 1967, the first time a Black actor topped the list. In 2009 President Barack Obama, whose own steady bearing was sometimes compared to PoitierB次元官网网址檚, awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, saying that the actor B次元官网网址渘ot only entertained but enlightened B次元官网网址� revealing the power of the silver screen to bring us closer together.B次元官网网址�
His appeal brought him burdens not unlike such other historical figures as Jackie Robinson and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He was subjected to bigotry from whites and accusations of compromise from the Black community. Poitier was held, and held himself, to standards well above his white peers. He refused to play cowards and took on characters, especially in B次元官网网址淕uess WhoB次元官网网址檚 Coming to Dinner,B次元官网网址� of almost divine goodness. He developed a steady, but resolved and occasionally humorous persona crystallized in his most famous line B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淭hey call me Mr. Tibbs!B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� from B次元官网网址淚n the Heat of the Night.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淎ll those who see unworthiness when they look at me and are given thereby to denying me value B次元官网网址� to you I say, B次元官网网址業B次元官网网址檓 not talking about being as good as you. I hereby declare myself better than you,B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� he wrote in his memoir, B次元官网网址淭he Measure of a Man,B次元官网网址� published in 2000.
But even in his prime he was criticized for being out of touch. He was called an Uncle Tom and a B次元官网网址渕illion-dollar shoeshine boy.B次元官网网址� In 1967, The New York Times published Black playwright Clifford MasonB次元官网网址檚 essay, B次元官网网址淲hy Does White America Love Sidney Poitier So?B次元官网网址� Mason dismissed PoitierB次元官网网址檚 films as B次元官网网址渁 schizophrenic flight from historical factB次元官网网址� and the actor as a pawn for the B次元官网网址渨hite manB次元官网网址檚 sense of whatB次元官网网址檚 wrong with the world.B次元官网网址�
Stardom didnB次元官网网址檛 shield Poitier from racism and condescension. He had a hard time finding housing in Los Angeles and was followed by the Ku Klux Klan when he visited Mississippi in 1964, not long after three civil rights workers had been murdered there. In interviews, journalists often ignored his work and asked him instead about race and current events.
B次元官网网址淚 am an artist, man, American, contemporary,B次元官网网址� he snapped during a 1967 press conference. B次元官网网址淚 am an awful lot of things, so I wish you would pay me the respect due.B次元官网网址�
Poitier was not as engaged politically as his friend and contemporary Harry Belafonte, leading to occasional conflicts between them. But he participated in the 1963 March on Washington and other civil rights events, and as an actor defended himself and risked his career. He refused to sign loyalty oaths during the 1950s, when Hollywood was barring suspected Communists, and turned down roles he found offensive.
B次元官网网址淎lmost all the job opportunities were reflective of the stereotypical perception of Blacks that had infected the whole consciousness of the country,B次元官网网址� he recalled. B次元官网网址淚 came with an inability to do those things. It just wasnB次元官网网址檛 in me. I had chosen to use my work as a reflection of my values.B次元官网网址�
PoitierB次元官网网址檚 films were usually about personal triumphs rather than broad political themes, but the classic Poitier role, from B次元官网网址淚n the Heat of the NightB次元官网网址� to B次元官网网址淕uess WhoB次元官网网址檚 Coming to Dinner,B次元官网网址� was as a Black man of such decency and composure B次元官网网址� Poitier became synonymous with the word B次元官网网址渄ignifiedB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� that he wins over the whites opposed to him.
His screen career faded in the late 1960s as political movements, Black and white, became more radical and movies more explicit. He acted less often, gave fewer interviews and began directing, his credits including the Richard Pryor-Gene Wilder farce B次元官网网址淪tir Crazy,B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淏uck and the PreacherB次元官网网址� (co-starring Poitier and Belafonte) and the Bill Cosby comedies B次元官网网址淯ptown Saturday NightB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淟etB次元官网网址檚 Do It Again.B次元官网网址�
In the 1980s and B次元官网网址�90s, he appeared in the feature films B次元官网网址淪neakersB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淭he JackalB次元官网网址� and several television movies, receiving an Emmy and Golden Globe nomination as future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in B次元官网网址淪eparate But EqualB次元官网网址� and an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Nelson Mandela in B次元官网网址淢andela and De Klerk.B次元官网网址� Theatergoers were reminded of the actor through an acclaimed play that featured him in name only: John GuareB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淪ix Degrees of Separation,B次元官网网址� about a con artist claiming to be PoitierB次元官网网址檚 son.
In recent years, a new generation learned of him through Oprah Winfrey, who chose B次元官网网址淭he Measure of a ManB次元官网网址� for her book club. Meanwhile, he welcomed the rise of such Black stars as Denzel Washington, Will Smith and Danny Glover: B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 like the cavalry coming to relieve the troops! You have no idea how pleased I am,B次元官网网址� he said.
Poitier received numerous honorary prizes, including a lifetime achievement award from the American Film Institute and a special Academy Award in 2002, on the same night that Black performers won both best acting awards, Washington for B次元官网网址淭raining DayB次元官网网址� and Halle Berry for B次元官网网址淢onsterB次元官网网址檚 Ball.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檒l always be chasing you, Sidney,B次元官网网址� Washington, who had earlier presented the honorary award to Poitier, said during his acceptance speech. B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檒l always be following in your footsteps. ThereB次元官网网址檚 nothing I would rather do, sir, nothing I would rather do.B次元官网网址�
Poitier had four daughters with his first wife, Juanita Hardy, and two with his second wife, actress Joanna Shimkus, who starred with him in his 1969 film B次元官网网址淭he Lost Man.B次元官网网址� Daughter Sydney Tamaii Poitier appeared on such television series as B次元官网网址淰eronica MarsB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淢r. Knight.B次元官网网址�
His life ended in adulation, but it began in hardship. Poitier was born prematurely, weighing just 3 pounds, in Miami, where his parents had gone to deliver tomatoes from their farm on tiny Cat Island in the Bahamas. He spent his early years on the remote island, which had a population of 1,500 and no electricity, and he quit school at 12 1/2 to help support the family. Three years later, he was sent to live with a brother in Miami; his father was concerned that the street life of Nassau was a bad influence. With $3 in his pocket, Sidney traveled steerage on a mail-cargo ship.
B次元官网网址淭he smell in that portion of the boat was so horrendous that I spent a goodly part of the crossing heaving over the side,B次元官网网址� he told The Associated Press in 1999, adding that Miami soon educated him about racism. B次元官网网址淚 learned quite quickly that there were places I couldnB次元官网网址檛 go, that I would be questioned if I wandered into various neighborhoods.B次元官网网址�
Poitier moved to Harlem and was so overwhelmed by his first winter there he enlisted in the Army, cheating on his age and swearing he was 18 when he had yet to turn 17. Assigned to a mental hospital on Long Island, Poitier was appalled at how cruelly the doctors and nurses treated the soldier patients. In his 1980 autobiography, B次元官网网址淭his Life,B次元官网网址� he related how he escaped the Army by feigning insanity.
Back in Harlem, he was looking in the Amsterdam B次元官网网址 for a dishwasher job when he noticed an ad seeking actors at the American Negro Theater. He went there and was handed a script and told to go on the stage. Poitier had never seen a play in his life and could barely read. He stumbled through his lines in a thick Caribbean accent and the director marched him to the door.
B次元官网网址淎s I walked to the bus, what humiliated me was the suggestion that all he could see in me was a dishwasher. If I submitted to him, I would be aiding him in making that perception a prophetic one,B次元官网网址� Poitier later told the AP.
B次元官网网址淚 got so pissed, I said, B次元官网网址業B次元官网网址檓 going to become an actor B次元官网网址� whatever that is. I donB次元官网网址檛 want to be an actor, but IB次元官网网址檝e got to become one to go back there and show him that I could be more than a dishwasher.B次元官网网址� That became my goal.B次元官网网址�
The process took months as he sounded out words from the newspaper. Poitier returned to the American Negro Theater and was again rejected. Then he made a deal: He would act as janitor for the theater in return for acting lessons. When he was released again, his fellow students urged the teachers to let him be in the class play. Another Caribbean, Belafonte, was cast in the lead. When Belafonte couldnB次元官网网址檛 make a preview performance because it conflicted with his own janitorial duties, his understudy, Poitier, went on.
The audience included a Broadway producer who cast him in an all-Black version of B次元官网网址淟ysistrata.B次元官网网址� The play lasted four nights, but rave reviews for Poitier won him an understudy job in B次元官网网址淎nna Lucasta,B次元官网网址� and later he played the lead in the road company. In 1950, he broke through on screen in B次元官网网址淣o Way Out,B次元官网网址� playing a doctor whose patient, a white man, dies and is then harassed by the patientB次元官网网址檚 bigoted brother, played by Richard Widmark.
Key early films included B次元官网网址淏lackboard Jungle,B次元官网网址� featuring Poitier as a tough high school student (the actor was well into his 20s at the time) in a violent school; and B次元官网网址淭he Defiant Ones,B次元官网网址� which brought Poitier his first best actor nomination, and the first one for any Black male. The theme of cultural differences turned lighthearted in B次元官网网址淟ilies of the Field,B次元官网网址� in which Poitier played a Baptist handyman who builds a chapel for a group of Roman Catholic nuns, refugees from Germany. In one memorable scene, he gives them an English lesson.
The only Black actor before Poitier to win a competitive Oscar was Hattie McDaniel, the 1939 best supporting actress for B次元官网网址淕one With the Wind.B次元官网网址� No one, including Poitier, thought B次元官网网址淟ilies of the FieldB次元官网网址� his best film, but the times were right (Congress would soon pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, for which Poitier had lobbied) and the actor was favored even against such competitors as Paul Newman for B次元官网网址淗udB次元官网网址� and Albert Finney for B次元官网网址淭om Jones.B次元官网网址� Newman was among those rooting for Poitier.
When presenter Anne Bancroft announced his victory, the audience cheered for so long that Poitier momentarily forgot his speech. B次元官网网址淚t has been a long journey to this moment,B次元官网网址� he declared.
Poitier never pretended that his Oscar was B次元官网网址渁 magic wandB次元官网网址� for Black performers, as he observed after his victory, and he shared his criticsB次元官网网址� frustration with some of the roles he took on, confiding that his characters were sometimes so unsexual they became kind of B次元官网网址渘euter.B次元官网网址� But he also believed himself fortunate and encouraged those who followed him.
B次元官网网址淭o the young African American filmmakers who have arrived on the playing field, I am filled with pride you are here. I am sure, like me, you have discovered it was never impossible, it was just harder,B次元官网网址� he said in 1992 as he received a lifetime achievement award from the American Film Institute. B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淲elcome, young Blacks. Those of us who go before you glance back with satisfaction and leave you with a simple trust: Be true to yourselves and be useful to the journey.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址擧illel Italie, The Associated Press
