Sidney Poitier - the actor who broke the racial barrier in Hollywood

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:45

World famous actor, director, humanitarian and diplomat. He inspires not only cinematic achievements, but also personal qualities, he was awarded the Medal of Freedom by the President of the United States for his contribution to world culture and peacekeeping. A man who went from laborer from a humble peasant family to Ambassador of the Commonwe alth of the Bahamas to Japan and UNESCO.

Childhood

Sidney Poitier was born February 20, 1927 in Miami, Florida. His parents Reginald and Evelyn Poitier were simple farmers from Cat Island (Bahamas) and made a living growing and selling tomatoes. Since the large family had a very modest income, the boy barely survived the first months of his life. After giving birth with baby Sydney in their 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 the farm. He rarely attended school, working on the family farm took too long.a lot of time. When Sidney was eleven years old, his family moved to Nassau, where he got acquainted with the fruits of industrial civilization and cinema. At the age of 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 Sidney got involved 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 that time, and at the age of 15 the young man joined him.

Youth

Because Sidney Poitier was born in Miami, he was eligible for American citizenship, but for a black guy in 1940s Florida, rights existed only on paper. Growing up in black society in the Bahamas, Poitiers never learned to show the expected deference to southern whites. Although Sydney quickly found a job in Florida, he could not get used to the humiliation.

After a summer washing up at a resort, Poitiers left the South for New York. On the way, he was robbed, and a 16-year-old boy arrived in Harlem with a few dollars in his pocket. He slept on bus stations and rooftops until he made enough money to afford a rented room. Unaccustomed to the cold of winter, Sidney could not afford warm clothes, so he lied about his age and joined the army to escape the cold.

Back in New York, he decided to change his life, and it is not known how Sidney Poitier would have turned outbiography, were it not for an audition at the Harlem African-American Community Theatre. Rejected due to his Caribbean accent and poor reading skills, the young Poitier took it as a challenge and decided to become an actor by all means. For the next six months, he worked hard on himself.

Theater

Sidney later returned to the theater and worked as a janitor in exchange for classes at drama school. On one occasion, the performance could be broken due to the absence of actor Harry Belafont, and Poitier was allowed to replace him. Sidney was at first a little confused on stage, but then pulled himself together, his acting game attracted the attention of a 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 production of the drama "Anne Lucaste" - this is how Sidney Poitier got into the world of African-American professional actors, where he gained serious experience.

First film work

Syd made her film debut as a young doctor in No Escape (1950). Prior to this work in American cinema, black actors played only the role of servants, the powerful performance of Poitier and the plot of the picture, dedicated to the fight against racial hatred, became a revelation for the American audience. The film was briefly banned from screening in Chicago, and in most southern cities it was never released at all. The Bahamas, then a British colony,the film was also banned, which caused unrest among the black population, the authorities had to make concessions, and the independence movement intensified.

Although Sidney Poitier's performance was well received by the audience, there were still few dramatic roles for black actors. For a number of years, Poitier alternated work in the theater and cinema with the low-paid work of a simple worker. In 1955, the 27-year-old actor played the role of a high school student in the film School Jungle. Set in the tough world of an urban school, the film and Poitier's astonishing performance became an international sensation. So the actor gained fame among a wide audience.

Sidney Poitier: filmography

In 1958, Poitier starred in Heads Unbowed, directed by Stanley Kramer. The creative tandem of Poitier and Tony Curtis, as well as the plot of the film, which tells about escaped convicts chained to each other and, despite mutual contempt, forced to cooperate in order to achieve freedom, received rave reviews from critics and a box office success. Poitier was nominated for an Oscar for his work on the role.

The actor's role in the film adaptation of Porgy and Bess was also highly praised by critics. Despite his star status in the cinema, Poitier continues to play in the theater. So, in 1959, the premiere of the play "A Raisin in the Sun" based on the play by Lorain directed by Lloyd Richards with Poitier in the title role took place on Broadway. The performance about the daily struggle for the life of the working class received positive reviews from critics andbecame a classic of American drama. In 1961, "A Raisin in the Sun" was filmed.

Feeling part of the growing struggle against racial discrimination in the United States, South Africa and the Bahamas, Poitier is very careful in choosing film roles. In Lilies of the Field (1963), he played a laborer who persuaded him to build a chapel for an impoverished order of nuns who had fled East Germany. The film was a huge success and earned Poitier an Academy Award for Best Actor. The joy of such an achievement of Sidney Poitier is not able to convey the photo.

1967 was marked by the release of three of Poitier's most famous films: "To the Teacher with Love", "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" and "Stuffy Southern Night". In the latter, Poitier played the role of a black detective who, while investigating a murder, overcomes the racial prejudices of the townspeople and the sheriff. The film won an Oscar for best picture of the year.

Poitier tries his hand at directing and makes his 1972 debut with Buck and the Preacher. As an actor, Sidney Poitier has always been more interested in dramatic roles, but as a director, he gravitates more towards comedy. This is how the famous trilogy appeared: "Saturday Night on the outskirts of town", "Let's do it again" and "Clip of drive".

Sidney has always followed the events in his homeland, and when the independence movement intensified in the Bahamas, he leaves the United States at the peak of his acting career and returns to his homeland. There he becomes a prominent participant in the struggle for independence, and in 1973 the Bahamasreceive the status of an independent state. In 1980-1990, Sidney Poitier published an autobiography and continued directing. His comedies Wild Madness, Fraud, Full Speed Ahead and Ghost Dad are still very popular with viewers to this day. As an actor, Poitier appears in a number of television films and plays historical figures, including South African President Nelson Mandela.

Public and political activities

Having dual citizenship in the Bahamas and the United States, Poitiers received an offer in 1997 to become the Ambassador of the Commonwe alth of the Bahamas to Japan. Since that time, he has also been the Permanent National Representative of the Bahamas to UNESCO. In recent years, Poitier has dedicated much of his time to writing and has published several best-selling books.

A man who could hardly read at the age of sixteen has been constantly educated and now knows several languages. By the way, Sidney Poitier speaks Russian quite well.

In 2001, he received his second Oscar, a special lifetime achievement award. In 2009, he was nominated for the Order of Lincoln for "achievements that exemplify the character and lasting legacy" of President Lincoln. The order was presented at the opening of the Ford Theater in Washington DC, which was attended by US President Barack Obama. That same year, President Obama awarded Sidney Poitier the Medal of Freedom.