Sidney Poitier facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sidney Poitier
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Poitier in 1968
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| Born | February 20, 1927 Miami, Florida, U.S.
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| Died | January 6, 2022 (aged 94) |
| Nationality |
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| Occupation |
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| Years active | 1946–2009 |
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Works
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Full list |
| Spouse(s) |
Juanita Hardy
(m. 1950; div. 1965)Joanna Shimkus
(m. 1976) |
| Partner(s) | Diahann Carroll (1959–1968) |
| Children | 6, including Sydney Tamiia |
| Awards | Full list |
| Ambassador of the Bahamas | |
| 1997–2007 | Ambassador to Japan |
| 2002–2007 | Ambassador to UNESCO |
| Military career | |
| Service/ |
United States Army |
| Years of service | 1943–1944 |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Sidney Poitier (born February 20, 1927 – died January 6, 2022) was a famous Bahamian and American actor, film director, and diplomat. He made history in 1964. He was the first Black actor and the first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Poitier also won two Golden Globe Awards and a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award. He even won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album. Sidney Poitier was one of the last big stars from the classic era of Hollywood movies.
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Early life and moving to New York
Sidney Poitier was born on February 20, 1927, in Miami, Florida. He was the youngest of seven children. His parents, Evelyn and Reginald James Poitier, were farmers from Cat Island, Bahamas. They would travel to Miami to sell their crops.
Sidney was born early while his parents were in Miami. He was not expected to survive, but his parents stayed for three months to help him get healthy. Because he was born in the United States, he automatically became a U.S. citizen.
Poitier grew up in the Bahamas, which was a British colony at the time. He lived on Cat Island until he was ten. Then, his family moved to Nassau, the capital. There, he saw modern things for the first time, like cars, electricity, and movies.
At age fifteen, he moved to Miami to live with his brother's family. But he found it hard to deal with the racism there. At sixteen, he moved to New York City. He wanted to become an actor and worked as a dishwasher to support himself.
He tried out for the American Negro Theatre but couldn't read the script well. An older waiter helped him learn to read better by using newspapers every night for weeks.
Joining the Army
During World War II, in November 1943, Sidney Poitier joined the United States Army. He was only 16 but lied about his age. He worked in a hospital for soldiers with mental health issues.
Poitier was unhappy with how patients were treated. He pretended to be unwell to leave the Army. He was honorably discharged in December 1944.
After leaving the Army, he went back to working as a dishwasher. Later, he had a successful audition and got a role with the American Negro Theatre. This was the same group that had rejected him before.
Becoming a movie star
Sidney Poitier joined the American Negro Theatre again. At first, audiences didn't like his acting. He worked hard to improve his skills and lose his Bahamian accent.
His second try at the theater was a success. He got a main role in a Broadway play called Lysistrata. Even though the play didn't run for long, he was asked to be a backup actor for another play, Anna Lucasta.
His big break in movies came in 1955. He played a high school student in the film Blackboard Jungle. In 1958, Poitier starred with Tony Curtis in The Defiant Ones. They played two escaped prisoners chained together. Both actors were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. This was the first time a Black actor was nominated for this award. Poitier also won a BAFTA award and the Silver Bear for Best Actor for this film.
In 1964, Poitier won the Academy Award and the Golden Globe for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field (1963). He played a traveling handyman helping nuns build a chapel.
He also received praise for his roles in Porgy and Bess (1959), A Raisin in the Sun (1961), and A Patch of Blue (1965). He played strong African American characters in these films.
In 1967, he continued to break barriers with three successful movies about race: To Sir, with Love, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and In the Heat of the Night. In the Heat of the Night won the Academy Award for Best Picture that year. Poitier was nominated for Golden Globe and BAFTA awards for his performance. The next year, he was voted the top box-office star in the U.S.
In the 1970s, Poitier also started directing comedy films. One famous movie he directed was Stir Crazy (1980), starring Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder. After almost ten years away from acting, he returned to star in films like Shoot to Kill (1988) and Sneakers (1992).
In 2014, Poitier appeared at the 86th Academy Awards with Angelina Jolie. He received a standing ovation. Jolie thanked him for his contributions to Hollywood. Poitier told his fellow actors to "keep up the wonderful work." In 2021, the new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles named its main lobby the "Sidney Poitier Grand Lobby" in his honor.
Personal life and family
Sidney Poitier was married twice. His first marriage was to Juanita Hardy from 1950 to 1965. They raised their four daughters (Beverly, Pamela, Sherri, and Gina) in Stuyvesant, New York.
He married Joanna Shimkus, a Canadian actress, on January 23, 1976. They remained married until his death. With Joanna, he had two more daughters, Anika and Sydney Tamiia.
Sidney Poitier had six daughters in total, along with eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. When Hurricane Dorian hit the Bahamas in 2019, 23 of his relatives were missing, but thankfully they were later found safe.
Death and legacy
Sidney Poitier passed away on January 6, 2022, at his home in Beverly Hills, California. He was 94 years old.
Many important people, including Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and Bill Clinton, shared statements honoring him. Broadway theaters dimmed their lights to pay tribute to him. The Ebertfest film festival also dedicated its 2022 event to his memory.
Interesting facts about Sidney Poitier
- Poitier's family lived in the Bahamas, but he was born in Miami, Florida, while they were visiting. This gave him U.S. citizenship automatically.
- He was raised Catholic but later had beliefs closer to deism, which means believing in a creator but not organized religion.
- Unlike many Black actors at the time, Poitier could not sing because he was tone deaf.
- Poitier based his unique way of speaking on radio personality Norman Brokenshire.
- In 1947, Poitier helped start the Committee for the Negro in the Arts (CNA). This group worked to fight against unfair treatment based on class and race. Because of his involvement, he was unfairly prevented from working in Hollywood for a few years.
- From 1995 to 2003, Poitier was a member of the board of directors for The Walt Disney Company.
- In April 1997, Poitier became the ambassador from the Bahamas to Japan. He held this important job until 2007.
- From 2002 to 2007, he was also the ambassador of the Bahamas to UNESCO, a part of the United Nations.
- A documentary film about his life, called Sidney, was released in 2022.
- Poitier was the first Black actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor for Lilies of the Field (1963).
Sidney Poitier quotes
- "So much of life, it seems to me, is determined by pure randomness."
- "I learned to hear silence. That's the kind of life I lived: simple. I learned to see things in people around me, in my mom, dad, brothers and sisters."
- "If I'm remembered for having done a few good things, and if my presence here has sparked some good energies, that's plenty."
- "I never had an occasion to question color, therefore, I only saw myself as what I was... a human being."
Awards and honors
- In 1974, Queen Elizabeth II gave Poitier an honorary knighthood.
- In 1982, he received the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award for his amazing career.
- In 1986, he gave a speech to the graduating class at the University of Miami. He was also given an honorary degree.
- In 1994, Poitier received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
- In 1995, he received the Kennedy Center Honors for his contributions to American culture.
- In 1999, he was ranked 22nd among male actors on the "AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars" list by the American Film Institute. He also received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.
- In 2002, he was given an Academy Honorary Award for his "remarkable accomplishments as an artist and as a human being."
- In 2009, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This is the highest award a civilian can receive in the United States.
- In 2016, he received the BAFTA Fellowship for his outstanding lifetime achievements in film.
Books about Sidney Poitier
Autobiographies (books written by him)
- This Life (1980)
- The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography (2000)
- Life Beyond Measure: Letters to My Great-Granddaughter (2008)
Biographies (books written about him)
- Sidney Poitier: Man, Actor, Icon (2004) by Aram Goudsouzian.
- Sidney Poitier Black and White: Sidney Poitier's Emergence in the 1960s as a Black Icon (2020) by Philip Powers.
Other works Poitier also wrote a novel called Montaro Caine (2013).
Documentaries
- Sidney Poitier, un outsider à Hollywood (2008)
- Sidney (2022)
See also
In Spanish: Sidney Poitier para niños
- David Hampton, an impostor who pretended to be Poitier's son in 1983. This inspired the play and film Six Degrees of Separation.
- John Stewart, a superhero whose original design was based on Poitier.
