Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier, KBE (born February 20, 1927) is a Bahamian American actor. He was born in Miami, Florida and grew up in poverty on Cat Island in the Bahamas. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the 1963 film Lilies of the Field and was the first actor of African descent to win this award. Given an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II in 1974. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2002.

Related Topics:
February 20 - 1927 - Bahamian American - Actor - Miami, Florida - Cat Island - Bahamas - Academy Award for Best Actor - 1963 - Lilies of the Field - African - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences - 2002

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His other films include:

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• The Defiant Ones, for which he won the British Academy Award for Best Actor in 1958.
• Porgy and Bess, based on the famous opera, in the title role of Porgy along side Dorothy Dandridge as Bess. His on-screen singing voice was provided by opera singer Robert McFerrin, the father of Bobby McFerrin.
• Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, a film about an inter-racial romance and a white liberal's reaction to it
• A Patch of Blue, about a blind white girl and a black man who is moved to help her to a better life
• To Sir, with Love, a fact-based movie about a young teacher in an inner-city neighbourhood
• In the Heat of the Night about a murder investigation in a small Mississippi town.

He acted in the first run of "Raisin in the Sun" on Broadway in 1959, and in its Hollywood adaptation in 1961.

Related Topics:
Raisin in the Sun - Broadway - 1959 - 1961

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Married first to Juanita Hardy from April 29,1950 - 1965, and he is currently married to Canadian-born former actress Joanna Shimkus since January 23, 1976. He has 4 children by his first marriage and 2 children by his second marriage.

Related Topics:
April 29 - 1950 - 1965 - January 23 - 1976

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In addition to authoring This Life (1980) and The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography (2000), Poitier has also served as the Bahamian ambassador to Japan since April of 1997.

Related Topics:
1980 - 2000 - Japan - 1997

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He is mentioned extensively in John Guare's play Six Degrees of Separation, as one of the characters (falsely) claims to be his son.

Related Topics:
John Guare - Six Degrees of Separation

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Poitier was named appointed a Knight of the British Empire in 1974. It is regularly mistaken that this was an honourary award but since Poitier is a citizen of the Bahamas (which recognise the British Honour System) it is a bonafide knighthood. Althought this allows him to use the title "Sir" he rarely or never employs it himself. It has occasionally been used by people for him while he was on diplomatic work for the Bahamas. The Bahamian Ministry of Foreign Affairs lists him as "His Excellency Sir Sidney Poitier" http://www.mfabahamas.org/mfa-contacts.html

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Sidney Poitier: Awards and recognition ►