by Nathaniel R
The Oscar winning actor Sidney Poitier has died at the age of 94 in the Bahamas, leaving a remarkable legacy behind. Do you remember when you first became aware of Sidney Poitier? It can be difficult to pinpoint for stars of his magnitude. The most legendary actors become so much a part of the cultural fabric that it feels as if they have always existed. As if they have always been part of the very conception of "Hollywood" as our dream machine, as if the cinema couldn't have existed without them. But this is not strictly true. Hollywood had no room for any sidney poitiers before Sidney Poitier. His undeniable charisma and dramatic talent were potent enough to force Tinseltown's gates open, and reconceptualize who could be a movie star. And, it must be said, his good timing helped too...
Poitier was born in Miami to Bahamian farmers on what was meant to be a weekend trip to Florida. His premature birth was dangerous, and according to some reports, he was not expected to survive. But his timing was impeccable nonetheless, granting him automatic US citizenship. As a teenager he moved to the States, worked to soften his Bahamian accent, and by the age of 19 he made his Broadway debut in a short-lived production of Lysistrata.
By 23 he was acting in the movies, with his first credited role as a doctor in No Way Out (1950) a prestige drama that landed an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay. Five years later he broke through to stardom with Blackboard Jungle (1955), an inner-city school drama that received four Oscar nominations. Not every actor comes to stardom through "prestige" pictures, but that was Poitier's path; His Oscar history thus reads like destiny in retrospect.
Sidney Poitier was not the first black actor working regularly in Hollywood, nor the first to receive an Oscar. Hattie McDaniel was the first to win competitively (Gone With the Wind, 1939) and James Baskett the first to receive an Honorary Oscar (history has mostly buried that he received that prize for Disney's long withdrawn from view Song of the South, 1947). Ethel Waters (Pinky, 1949), and Dorothy Dandridge (Carmen Jones, 1954) also preceded Poitier to Oscar nominations. But the idea of Poitier as "the first" while not strictly factual, feels correct.
In "The Defiant Ones" which received two Best Actor nominations
With other movie celebrities Harry Belafonte, Charlton Heston, Burt Lancaster, at the historic March on Washington in 1963
By the time he received his first Best Actor nomination for the excellent prison breakout drama The Defiant Ones (1958) he was exactly the right age to lead movies just as the Civil Rights Era was raging outside of movie screens and would have to, then, also make its way onscreen... whether Hollywood was ready or not.
The 1960s were his heyday, leading or co-starring in multiple major hits and classics like A Raisin in the Sun, A Patch of Blue, To Sir With Love, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and the Best Picture winner In the Heat of the Night (1967) most of them dealing directly with race in America. He won the Oscar, the first competitive win for a black man (in any category), for the religious drama, Lilies of the Field (1963). It's the purest kind of Movie Star Performance, powered by megawatt charisma and filled with entertainment value.
As with all careers the major movie star years didn't last forever (even if a few films and his legend did). In the early 70s he began stepping behind the camera instead of just in front of us, his biggest hit as a director being the very successful Richard Pryor comedy Stir Crazy (1980). He worked less and less afterwards but would occassionally pop up in supporting roles as in all star comedy Sneakers (1992), or the thriller The Jackal (1997).
Until I can properly eulogize him later. Heart broken. I am because of him. He blazed a tremendous path for thespians such as me. I am forever grateful. Standing O for this giant. pic.twitter.com/B6ZgNZF8MG
— Colman Domingo (@colmandomingo) January 7, 2022
If Poitier hadn't existed how much longer would it have taken for Hollywood to open up its doors to actors of color, or, more specifically, to see them as full Movie Stars? While his career was sometimes controversial -- some may recall that conversation in Lee Daniels The Butler about the quality of his acting and he was sometimes criticized for playing noble men too frequently -- he had the exact right combination of gifts to make an immeasurable difference in history.
That pressure and responsibility was something he was acutely aware of during his career. His influence, particularly on men of color that followed him into the movies is immeasurable. Who can ever forget Denzel Washington praising him during his own second Oscar win?
'I'll always be chasing you, Sidney. I'll always be following in your footsteps. There's nothing I would rather do, sir. God bless you'.