Sidney Poitier
Known for: Acting
Born: February 20, 1927
Died: January 6, 2022
Place of birth: Miami, Florida, USA
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.
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Filmography
88 movies · 20 TV shows, newest first
NR
The Resurrection of Christ
2026
3.0
Hollywood Black
2024
7.3
Remembering Gene Wilder
2024
6.5
Reinventing Elvis: The 68' Comeback
2023
7.5
Paul Newman: The Restless
2023
3.6
Sidney Poitier - The Man Who Changed Hollywood
2023
NR
A Star Without a Star: The Untold Juanita Moore Story
2022
7.0
Sidney
2022
NR
Poitier's Walter Lee
2018
7.0
Mr. SOUL!
2018
6.2
Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes / Feeling Heart
2017
NR
The Madding Crowd
2017
6.7
Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley
2013
10.0
Martin Luther King and the March on Washington
2013
6.9
Sing Your Song
2012
6.8
Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project
20074.5
Hollywood Legenden
2004
7.5
The Making of ‘Sneakers’
2003
10.0
Quincy Jones: In the Pocket
2001
8.0
The Last Brickmaker in America
2001
NR
Richard Widmark: Strength of Characters
2000
6.7
Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light
2000
6.2
The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn
1999
9.7
Free of Eden
1999
6.0
David and Lisa
1998
8.3
Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist
1998
6.4
The Jackal
1997
7.0
Mandela and de Klerk
1997
8.0
Afro Promo
1997
6.4
To Sir, with Love II
1996
7.1
Children of the Dust
1995
7.8
Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick
1995
6.9
Sneakers
1992
6.5
Separate but Equal
19916.0
Separate but Equal
1991
5.0
Ghost Dad
1990
6.1
Little Nikita
1988
6.6
Shoot to Kill
1988
7.7
Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night
1988
8.3
The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn
1986
6.8
Night of 100 Stars II
1985
5.6
Fast Forward
1985
NR
I Love Quincy
1984
5.3
Hanky Panky
1982
6.5
Stir Crazy
1980
7.3
Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist
1979
7.4
The Kennedy Center Honors
1978
5.8
A Piece of the Action
1977
7.0
Let's Do It Again
1975
6.4
The Wilby Conspiracy
1975
6.2
Uptown Saturday Night
1974
6.5
A Warm December
1973
6.3
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
1973
8.0
Nationtime: Gary
1972
6.3
Buck and the Preacher
19725.1
Film '72
1971
6.3
The Organization
1971
6.5
Brother John
1971
5.9
They Call Me Mister Tibbs!
1970
7.3
King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis
1970
4.3
The Lost Man
1969NR
Three Young Americans in Search of Survival
1969
6.2
For Love of Ivy
1968
6.8
The Dick Cavett Show
1968
7.6
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
1967
7.2
Omnibus
1967
7.7
In the Heat of the Night
1967
7.4
To Sir, with Love
1967
6.8
ABC Stage 67
1966
6.4
Duel at Diablo
1966
NR
The Strolling '20s
1966
7.1
The Slender Thread
1965
7.6
A Patch of Blue
1965
7.0
The Bedford Incident
1965
6.4
The Greatest Story Ever Told
1965
6.5
A Cinderella Named Elizabeth
1965
6.1
The Long Ships
1964
7.2
Lilies of the Field
1963
6.5
Pressure Point
1962
7.5
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962
6.8
The Merv Griffin Show
1962
5.8
The Mike Douglas Show
1961
6.5
Paris Blues
1961
7.7
A Raisin in the Sun
1961
6.7
All the Young Men
1960
6.3
Virgin Island
1959
6.3
Porgy and Bess
1959
7.1
The Defiant Ones
1958
3.4
The Mark of the Hawk
1957
6.3
Band of Angels
19577.5
Tonight Starring Jack Paar
1957
5.5
Something of Value
1957
7.2
Edge of the City
1957
7.8
Good-bye, My Lady
1956
NR
Tony Awards
1956
8.7
Cinépanorama
1956
NR
A Man Is Ten Feet Tall
1955
6.9
Blackboard Jungle
1955
5.4
Go Man Go
195410.0
Kraft Television Theatre
1953
7.0
The Oscars
1953
7.0
Omnibus
1952
6.0
The Red Ball Express
1952
6.3
Cry, the Beloved Country
1951
6.9
No Way Out
1950
6.6
The Philco Television Playhouse
1948
5.2
Sepia Cinderella
1947
7.0
Golden Globe Awards
1944