Sidney Poitier

ActorDirectorProducerWriter Feb 20 (died age 94) Miami, Florida, USA 1944–2023 (79 year career)

6.5 avg rating

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 Jun…

Known For

Film

In the Heat of the Night

Virgil Tibbs

Film

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

John Prentice

Film

The Jackal

Carter Preston

Film

Sneakers

Crease

Film

To Sir, with Love

Mark Thackeray

Film

The Defiant Ones

Noah Cullen

Film

Stir Crazy

Director

Film

Lilies of the Field

Homer Smith

Filmography

Acting (98)

Movies (81)

Reinventing Elvis: The 68' Comeback

2023

as Self (archive footage)

6.5

Sidney Poitier - The Man Who Changed Hollywood

2023

as Self (archive footage)

5.0

Sidney

2022

as Self

7.6

A Star Without a Star: The Untold Juanita Moore Story

2022

as Self

Mr. SOUL!

2018

as Self (archive footage)

7.0

Poitier's Walter Lee

2018

as Self (archive footage)

The Madding Crowd

2017

as Self (archive footage)

Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes / Feeling Heart

2017

as Self

6.2

Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley

2013

as Self

6.7

Martin Luther King and the March on Washington

as Self

Sing Your Song

as Self

Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project

as Self

Hollywood Legenden

as Self

The Making of ‘Sneakers’

2003

as Self

5.0

Quincy Jones: In the Pocket

2001

as Self

10.0

The Last Brickmaker in America

2001

as Henry Cobb

7.6

Richard Widmark: Strength of Characters

2000

as Self

Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light

Free of Eden

as Will Cleamons

The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn

as Noah Dearborn

David and Lisa

as Dr. Jack Miller

Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist

1998

as Reverend Msimangu (archive footage)

The Jackal

as Carter Preston

Mandela and de Klerk

as Nelson Mandela

Afro Promo

as Self (archive footage)

To Sir, with Love II

1996

as Mark Thackeray

6.4

Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick

as Self

Sneakers

as Crease

Separate But Equal

as Thurgood Marshall

Little Nikita

as Roy Parmenter

Shoot to Kill

as Warren Stantin

Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night

1988

as Self - Audience Member

7.5

The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn

1986

as Self

8.0

Night of 100 Stars II

1985

as Self

8.0

I Love Quincy

1984

as Self

Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist

1979

as Narrator (voice)

7.2

A Piece of the Action

as Manny Durrell

The Wilby Conspiracy

as Shack Twala

Let's Do It Again

as Clyde Williams

Uptown Saturday Night

as Steve Jackson

A Warm December

as Dr. Matt Younger

Nationtime

as Self - Narrator

Buck and the Preacher

as Buck

The Organization

as Virgil Tibbs

Brother John

as John Kane

They Call Me Mister Tibbs!

1970

as Virgil Tibbs

5.8

King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis

1970

as Self (archive footage)

7.1

The Lost Man

1969

as Jason Higgs

3.3

Three Young Americans in Search of Survival

1969

as Himself

For Love of Ivy

1968

as Jack Parks

5.8

In the Heat of the Night

1967

as Virgil Tibbs

7.7

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

as John Prentice

To Sir, with Love

as Mark Thackeray

Duel at Diablo

as Toller

The Strolling '20s

as Self

The Greatest Story Ever Told

as Simon of Cyrene

The Slender Thread

as Alan Newell

The Bedford Incident

as Ben Munceford

A Patch of Blue

as Gordon Ralfe

A Cinderella Named Elizabeth

as Self

The Long Ships

as Aly Mansuh

Lilies of the Field

as Homer Smith

Pressure Point

as Doctor

Paris Blues

as Eddie Cook

A Raisin in the Sun

as Walter Lee Younger

All the Young Men

as Sgt. Eddie Towler

Porgy and Bess

as Porgy

Virgin Island

as Marcus

The Defiant Ones

as Noah Cullen

Band of Angels

as Rau-Ru

Something of Value

as Kimani Wa Karanja

Edge of the City

as Tommy Tyler

The Mark of the Hawk

as Obam

Good-bye, My Lady

as Gates Watson

Blackboard Jungle

as Gregory W. Miller

A Man Is Ten Feet Tall

1955

as Tommy Tyler

Go Man Go

as Inman Jackson

The Red Ball Express

as Robertson

Cry, the Beloved Country

as Reverend Msimangu

No Way Out

as Luther Brooks

Sepia Cinderella

as Nightclub Extra (uncredited)

4.8

Television (17)

Children of the Dust

as Gypsy Smith

Separate but Equal

as Thurgood Marshall

The Kennedy Center Honors

1978

as Self

7.4

The American Film Institute Salute to ...

as Self

The Dick Cavett Show

as Self - Guest

ABC Stage 67

as Self - Host

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

1962

as Self

7.4

The Merv Griffin Show

1962

as Self

6.2

The Mike Douglas Show

1961

as Self

5.4

Tonight Starring Jack Paar

as Self

Tony Awards

as Self - Presenter

Cinépanorama

as Self

The Oscars

as Self

Kraft Television Theatre

1953

Omnibus

1952

6.0

The Philco Television Playhouse

Golden Globe Awards

as Self - Nominee

Crew (11)

Movies (11)

Ghost Dad

Director

Fast Forward

Director

Hanky Panky

Director

Stir Crazy

Director

A Piece of the Action

Director

Let's Do It Again

Director

Uptown Saturday Night

Director

A Warm December

Director

Buck and the Preacher

1972

Director

6.3

Buck and the Preacher

Producer

For Love of Ivy

Original Story