Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier was born on Cat Island, Bahamas, though he was delivered two months prematurely in Miami during a visit by his parents, Evelyn (Outten) and Reginald James Poitier. He grew up in poverty as the son of farmers, with his father also working as a cab driver in Nassau. With little formal education, Poitier was sent to Miami at the age of 15 to live with his brother in an effort to curb a growing tendency toward delinquency. In the U.S., he encountered the racial divisions prevalent in American society, a stark contrast to the majority African descent population of his homeland. At 18, he moved to New York, where he held menial jobs and slept in a bus terminal toilet. After a brief period in the Army working at a veterans' hospital, he returned to Harlem for more menial work. An impulsive audition at the American Negro Theatre was rejected so strongly that Poitier spent the next six months working to eliminate his accent and improve his acting. On his second attempt, he was accepted. He was spotted in rehearsal by a casting agent and landed a bit part in the Broadway production of "Lysistrata," for which he received positive reviews. By the end of 1949, he had to choose between leading stage roles and an offer to work for Darryl F. Zanuck in the film *No Way Out* (1950). His performance as a doctor treating a white bigot brought him attention and led to more roles, though still less prominent than those given to white actors. Seven years later, after declining several projects he found demeaning, Poitier secured a series of roles that elevated him to a rare status for an African-American man at the time, that of leading man. One of these, *The Defiant Ones* (1958), earned him his first Academy Award nomination as Best Actor. Five years later, he won the Oscar for *Lilies of the Field* (1963), becoming the first African American to win for a leading role. He remained active in both stage and screen, as well as in the Civil Rights movement. His roles in *Guess Who's Coming to Dinner* (1967) and *To Sir, with Love* (1967) were significant in helping to break down racial barriers. Poitier's talent, conscience, integrity, and likability placed him on equal footing with white stars of the era. In the 1970s, he expanded into directing and producing, achieving success in both fields.