Sidney Poitier
Acting
Biography
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.
Born: February 20, 1927
Place of Birth: Miami, Florida, USA
Known For
Quincy Jones: In the Pocket
Composer, record, TV and film producer, arranger, instrumentalist, magazine founder and multi-media entrepreneur - Quincy Jones has done it all. In his 50-year career, he has won 26 Grammy awards and an Emmy, earned seven Oscar nominations and helped ignite the career of megastar Michael Jackson. American Masters takes an all-access look at this remarkable star of the world stage. Narrated by Harry Belafonte, Quincy Jones: In the Pocket features interviews with friends and contemporaries such as former President Bill Clinton, Maya Angelou and Sidney Poitier. This candid profile also includes behind-the-scenes footage of the historic "We Are the World" all-star recording session, in-studio clips of Frank Sinatra and other exclusive visual materials.
Martin Luther King and the March on Washington
Documentary commemorating the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's March on Washington, a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. The film tells the story of how the march for jobs and freedom began, speaking to the people who organised and participated in it. Using rarely seen archive footage the film reveals the background stories surrounding the build up to the march as well as the fierce opposition it faced from the JFK administration, J Edgar Hoover's FBI and widespread claims that it would incite racial violence, chaos and disturbance. The film follows the unfolding drama as the march reaches its ultimate triumphs, gaining acceptance from the state, successfully raising funds and in the end, organised and executed peacefully.
Free of Eden
Story about Will Cleamons, a former teacher-turned-businessman who agrees to tutor 18-year-old high school dropout, Nicole Turner. Much to his surprise, their relationship not only helps Nicole build a future, but helps Cleamons put his personal life back together.
Night of 100 Stars II
This special is the second "Night of 100 Stars" to benefit The Actors Fund of America. Edited from a seven-hour live entertainment marathon that was taped February 17, 1985, at New York's Radio City Music Hall, this sequel to the 1982 "Night of 100 Stars" special features 288 celebrities.
Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick
Documentary exploring the career of noted film directer William A. Wellman.
The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn
In this tribute to her frequent co-star and longtime love, Katharine Hepburn hosts a behind-the-scenes look at Spencer Tracy's personal and professional life that features intimate personal accounts, interviews and clips from his most acclaimed work on the silver screen.
Nationtime
A report on the National Black Political Convention held in Gary, Indiana, in 1972, a historic event that gathered Black voices from across the political spectrum, among them Jesse Jackson, Dick Gregory, Coretta Scott King, Richard Hatcher, Amiri Baraka, Charles Diggs, and H. Carl McCall.
Cinépanorama
Good-bye, My Lady
An old man and a young boy who live in the southeastern Mississippi swamps are brought together by the love of a dog.
Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist
A look at the confluence of the Red Scare, McCarthyism, and blacklists with the post-war activism by African Americans seeking more and better roles on radio, television, and stage. It begins in Harlem, measures the impact of Paul Robeson and the campaign to bring him down, looks at the role of HUAC, J. Edgar Hoover and of journalists such as Ed Sullivan, and ends with a tribute to Canada Lee. Throughout are interviews with men and women who were there, including Dick Campbell of the Rose McLendon Players and Fredrick O'Neal of the American Negro Theatre. In the 1940s and 1950s, anti-Communism was one more tool to maintain Jim Crow and to keep down African-Americans.
Filmography
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
as Self
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
as Self
as Self
as Self
as Henry Cobb
as Noah Dearborn
as Will Cleamons
as Dr. Jack Miller
as Reverend Msimangu (archive footage)
as Carter Preston
as Nelson Mandela
as Self (archive footage)
as Mark Thackeray
as Gypsy Smith
as Crease
as Thurgood Marshall
as Thurgood Marshall
as Roy Parmenter
as Warren Stantin
as Self - Audience Member
as Self
as Self
as Narrator (voice)
as Self
as Manny Durrell
as Clyde Williams
as Shack Twala
as Steve Jackson
as Dr. Matt Younger
as Self - Narrator
as Buck
as Virgil Tibbs
as John Kane
as Virgil Tibbs
as Self (archive footage)
as Jason Higgs
as Jack Parks
as Self - Guest
as John Prentice
as Virgil Tibbs
as Mark Thackeray
as Self - Host
as Toller
as Self
as Alan Newell
as Gordon Ralfe
as Ben Munceford
as Simon of Cyrene
as Self
as Aly Mansuh
as Homer Smith
as Doctor
as Self
as Self
as Self - Taped Tribute
as Eddie Cook
as Walter Lee Younger
as Sgt. Eddie Towler
as Marcus
as Porgy
as Noah Cullen
as Obam
as Rau-Ru
as Kimani Wa Karanja
as Tommy Tyler
as Gates Watson
as Self - Presenter
as Self
as Tommy Tyler
as Gregory W. Miller
as Inman Jackson
as Self
as Robertson
as Reverend Msimangu
as Luther Brooks
as Tommy Tyler
as Nightclub Extra (uncredited)
as Self - Nominee
as Self - Presenter