Biography
While other actors and actresses of color made impact before and after him, Poitier in his time leveraged his mesmerizing screen presence into a culture-changing force. His very first film set off a chain of events that freed his native Bahamas of British colonial rule, and from there he not only became the first black Best Actor Oscar winner - for "Lilies of the Field" (1963) - but was the number-one box-office draw in 1967 in a triumvirate …
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Career Milestones
2008 | Penned his third book, Life Beyond Measure - letters to my Great-Granddaughter; earned a Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Word for the CD version | |
2001 | Appeared in the CBS telefilm, "The Last Brickmaker in America" | |
2000 | Helmed second autobiographical work, The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography | |
1999 | Had lead role in the highly-rated CBS TV-movie "The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn" | |
1997 | Played FBI Deputy Director Carter Preston in Michael Caton-Jones' "The Jackal" | |
1997 | Co-starred with Michael Caine for the Showtime miniseries, "Mandela and De Klerk" | |
1996 | Reprised role of Mark Thackaray 30 years later in the Peter Bogdanovich directed, "To Sir, With Love II" (CBS) | |
1992 | Joined an all-star cast for the high-tech caper, "Sneakers" | |
1991 | Earned Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for his portrayal of Thurgood Marshall the ABC miniseries "Separate But Equal" | |
1988 | Returned to acting with roles in Roger Spottiswoode's "Shoot to Kill" and Richard Benjamin's "Little Nikita" | |
1980 | Penned his autobiography, This Life | |
1980 | Directed Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor in "Stir Crazy"; first time directing a feature in which he did not also act | |
1977 | Last feature acting role for more than a decade in "A Piece of the Action"; also directed | |
1975 | Directed and starred opposite Bill Cosby in "Let's Do It Again" | |
1972 | Feature directorial debut, "Buck and the Preacher" | |
1971 | Once again reprised role of Virgil Tibbs for the third film, "The Organization" | |
1970 | Reprised "In the Heat of the Night" role for the sequel, "They Call Me Mister Tibbs" | |
1969 | Formed First Artists production company with Paul Newman, Barbra Streisand and others | |
1968 | Wrote original story for the film "For Love of Ivy"; also starred | |
1968 | Made stage directing debut with Broadway production of "Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights" | |
1967 | Had starring roles in three hit movies; "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," "To Sir, With Love" and "In the Heat of the Night" | |
1965 | Portrayed an African American man, who falls in love with blind white female in "A Patch of Blue" | |
1963 | Became first Black actor to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for "Lilies of the Field" | |
1961 | Reprised Broadway role for Daniel Petrie's film version of "A Raisin in the Sun" | |
1959 | Returned to Broadway in Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun"; first Broadway play written by a black woman; also first time a black man (Lloyd Richards) directed a Broadway show | |
1958 | Received first Academy Award nomination for Stanley Kramer's "The Defiant Ones"; first black male to receive nomination | |
1952 | TV acting debut in NBC's "The Philco Television Playhouse" | |
1950 | Made feature film debut in Darryl F. Zanuck's "No Way Out" | |
1949 | Film debut, appearing in the Army Corps documentary short, "From Whence Cometh My Help" | |
1947 | Starred in the Broadway production of "Anna Lucasta" | |
1946 | Broadway debut as understudy for all of the male roles in the American Negro Theater's all-black production of "Lysistrata" | |
1945 | Joined American Negro Theater and made stage debut in "Days of Our Youth" as Harry Belafonte's understudy | |
1941 | Served in the US Army as a physiotherapist | |
| Relocated to New York City where he worked as a dishwasher and busboy in restaurants | ||
1942 | Moved to Miami at age 15 to live with his brother Cyril | |
1940 | Dropped out of school at age 13 | |
| Raised on Cat Island in the Bahamas | ||
| Born in Miami, Florida when parents took a trip there to sell their produce | ||
Awards
1999 | Screen Actors Guild Award for Life Achievement |
1998 | Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries in Mandela and de Klerk |
1997 | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor In a Miniseries or Special in Mandela and de Klerk |
1991 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television in Separate But Equal |
1991 | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor In a Miniseries or Special in Separate But Equal |
1981 | Golden Globe Award for Cecil B. DeMille Award |
1970 | Golden Globe Award for Henrietta Award (World Film Favorites) |
1969 | Golden Globe Award for Henrietta Award (World Film Favorites) |
1968 | Golden Globe Award for Henrietta Award (World Film Favorites) |
1968 | San Sebastian International Film Festival for Official Awards - Premio San Sebastian a La Mejor Interpretacion Masculina in For Love of Ivy |
1967 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama in In the Heat of the Night |
1967 | BAFTA Award for Foreign Actor in In the Heat of the Night |
1966 | BAFTA Award for Foreign Actor in A Patch of Blue |
1965 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama in A Patch of Blue |
1964 | BAFTA Award for Foreign Actor in Lilies of the Field |
1963 | Academy Award for Actor in Lilies of the Field |
1963 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama in Lilies of the Field |
1963 | Berlin International Film Festival for Silver Bear for Best Actor in Lilies of the Field |
1961 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama in A Raisin in the Sun |
1961 | BAFTA Award for Foreign Actor in A Raisin in the Sun |
1959 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical in Porgy and Bess |
1958 | Academy Award for Actor in The Defiant Ones |
1958 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama in The Defiant Ones |
1958 | BAFTA Award for Foreign Actor in The Defiant Ones |
1958 | Berlin International Film Festival for Silver Bear for Best Actor in The Defiant Ones |
1957 | BAFTA Award for Foreign Actor in Edge of the City |