World famous actor, director, humanist and diplomat. He inspires not only cinematic achievements, but also personal qualities, and was awarded the President of the USA Medal of Freedom for his contribution to world culture and peacekeeping. A man who has gone from a laborer from a modest peasant family to the ambassador of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas in Japan and UNESCO.
Childhood
Sidney Poitiers was born February 20, 1927 in Miami, Florida. His parents, Reginald and Evelyn Poitiers, were simple farmers from Cat Island (Bahamas) and made a living by growing and selling tomatoes. Since a large family had a very modest income, the boy barely survived in the first months of his life. After giving birth to the baby Sydney in her arms, the parents returned to their farm, which was located on a tiny island. The boy spent the first ten years of his life working with his family on a farm. He attended school very rarely; working on a family farm took too much time. When Sidney was eleven years old, his family moved to Nassau, where he met with the fruits of industrial civilization and cinema. At age 12, to help his family, the boy finally left school and got a job as a laborer, but without education, his prospects in life were very limited. Therefore, when Sydney got in touch with a bad company, his father, fearing that the boy would become a criminal, insisted on his moving to the United States. Sidney's older brother had already settled in Miami by the time he was, and at 15, the young man joined him.
Youth
Since Sidney Poitier was born in Miami, he was entitled to American citizenship, but for a black guy in Florida in the 1940s, rights existed only on paper. Growing up in a black society in the Bahamas, Poitiers never learned to show the expected reverence for the white southerners. Although Sidney quickly found work in Florida, he could not get used to humiliation.
After a summer spent washing dishes at the resort, Poitiers left the South and went to New York. On the way he was robbed, and a 16-year-old man arrived in Harlem with a few dollars in his pocket. He slept at bus stations and rooftops until he made enough money to afford a rented room. Unaccustomed to a winter cold, Sydney could not afford warm clothes, then he lied about his age and went into the army to save himself from the cold.
Returning to New York, he decided to change his life, and it is not known how Sidney Poitier would have developed a biography if not for listening to the African American community at the Harlem Theater. Rejected due to a Caribbean accent and poor reading skills, the young Poitiers accepted it as a challenge and decided to become an actor at all costs. Over the next six months, he worked hard on himself.
Theatre
Sidney later returned to the theater and worked as a janitor in exchange for classes at a theater school. Once the performance could fail due to the absence of actor Harry Belafonte, and Poitiers was allowed to replace him. Sidney was a little confused at the beginning, but then pulled himself together, his acting game attracted the attention of the Broadway director, who offered him a small role in the African-American production of the ancient Greek comedy Lysistrata. Critics and viewers were fascinated by the work of the young actor. He received an invitation to join the troupe of the more famous community theater. The tour began with the staging of the drama "Anne Lucaste" - so Sidney Poitier got into the world of African-American professional actors, where he gained serious experience.
The first work in the cinema
Sydney's debut in the movie was the role of a young doctor in the film "There is no way out" (1950). Prior to this work, in American cinema, black actors played only the role of a servant, the powerful play of Poitiers and the plot of the picture dedicated to the fight against racial hatred became a revelation to the American audience. The film was briefly banned from showing in Chicago, and in most southern cities it never appeared on screens at all. In the Bahamas, which at that time was a colony of Great Britain, the film was also banned, which caused a disturbance of the black population, the authorities had to make concessions, and the independence movement intensified.
Although Sydney Poitier's acting was well received by the audience, dramatic roles for black actors were still few. For several years, Poitiers alternated work in theater and cinema with the low-paid labor of a simple worker. In 1955, the 27-year-old actor played the role of a high school student in the movie School Jungle. The painting, which tells about the harsh world of the city school, and the amazing play of Poitiers became an international sensation. So the actor gained fame among a wide audience.
Sidney Poitier: filmography
In 1958, Poitiers starred in the film "Heads Down" directed by Stanley Cramer. The creative tandem of Poitiers and Tony Curtis, as well as the plot of the film, which tells of fugitive convicts chained to each other and, despite mutual contempt, forced to work together to achieve freedom, received rave reviews from critics and box office success. For his work on the role of Poitiers, he was nominated for an Oscar.
Critics also praised the role of the actor in the film adaptation of Porgy and Bess. Despite his stellar status in cinema, Poitiers continues to play in the theater. So, in 1959, on the Broadway, the premiere of the play “Raisins in the Sun” based on the play by Lorraine directed by Lloyd Richards with Poitiers in the title role took place. The play about the daily struggle for the life of the working class received critical acclaim and became a classic of American drama. In 1961, "Raisins in the Sun" was filmed.
Feeling involved in the growing struggle against racial discrimination in the United States, South Africa, and the Bahamas, Poitiers is very careful about his choice of movie roles. In the film "Field Lilies" (1963), he played the handyman, who persuaded to build a chapel for the impoverished order of nuns who fled from East Germany. The film was a huge success and brought Poitiers the Academy Award for Best Actor. The joy of such an achievement Sydney Poitier photo is not able to convey.
1967 was marked by the release of three of the most famous films with the participation of Poitiers: “To the teacher with love”, “Guess who will come for dinner” and “Stuffy southern night”. In the latter, Poitiers played the role of a black detective who, in the investigation of the murder, overcomes the racial prejudices of the townspeople and the sheriff. The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture of the Year.
Poitiers tries his hand at directing and in 1972 makes his debut with the film "Buck and the Preacher." As an actor, Sidney Poitier has always been more interested in dramatic roles, but as a director, he is more attracted to comedy. So the famous trilogy appeared: “Saturday night on the outskirts of the city”, “Let's do it again” and “Drive clip”.
Sidney always followed the events in his homeland, and when the independence movement intensified in the Bahamas, he leaves the United States at the height of his acting career and returns to his homeland. There he becomes a prominent participant in the struggle for independence, and in 1973 the Bahamas received the status of an independent state. In 1980-1990, Sidney Poitier published an autobiography and continued directing work. His comedies "Wildly Crazed", "Fraud", "Full Forward" and "Ghost Papa" to this day are very popular with viewers. As an actor, Poitiers appears in several television films and plays historical figures, including South African President Nelson Mandela.
