Sidney Poitier

1927 -    Has 2 ancestors and 6 descendants in this family tree.

• Name	Sidney Poitier
  Relationship	with Francis Fox
  Born	20 Feb 1927	Miami, Florida, USA
  Gender	Male
  Person ID	I373709	Geneagraphie
  Last Modified	27 Mar 2019

  
  

  Father	Reginald James Poitier
  Mother	Evelyn Outten
  Siblings	2 siblings
  1. Cyril Poitier,   b. Abt 1911,   d. 13 Nov 1991, Miama, Florida, USA  (Age ~ 80 years)   2. NN Poitier
  Family ID	F148315	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	Living
  Last Modified	20 Jul 2004
  Family ID	F148309	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 2	Juanita Hardy
  Married	29 Apr 1950
  4 children
  Divorced	1965
  Children	1. Beverly Poitier   2. Pamela Poitier   3. Sherri Poitier   4. Gina Poitier
  Last Modified	20 Jul 2004
  Family ID	F148313	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 3	Living
  Children	1. Anika Poitier   2. Living
  Last Modified	20 Jul 2004
  Family ID	F148314	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos

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• Notes

  A native of Cat Island, The Bahamas, (though born in Miami during a mainland visit by his parents), Poitier grew up in poverty as the son of a dirt farmer. He had little formal education and at the age of 15 was sent to Miami to live with his brother, in order to forestall a growing tendency ward delinquency. In the U.S., Poitier first experienced the racial chasm that divides the country, a great shock to a boy coming from a society of black majority. A determination to find and create opportunities for blacks was born in him in the poor treatment he received on the streets of Miami. At 18, he went to New York, did menial jobs and slept in a bus terminal ilet. A brief stint in the Army as a worker at a veteran's hospital was followed by more menial jobs in Harlem. An impulsive audition at the American Negro Theatre was rejected so forcefully that Poitier dedicated the next six months to overcoming his accent and performance ineptness. On his second try, he was accepted. He was spotted in a rehearsal and given a bit part in a Broadway production of "Lysistrata, " for which he got excellent reviews. By the end of 1949, he was having to choose between leading roles on stage and an offer to work for Darryl F. Zanuck in the film No Way Out (1950). Poitier's performance as a doctor treating a white bigot got him plenty of notice and led to more roles, each considerably more interesting and prominent than most black actors of the time were getting. Nevertheless, the roles were still less interesting and prominent than those white actors routinely obtained. But seven years later, after turning down several projects he considered demeaning, Poitier got a number of roles that catapulted him into a category rarely if ever achieved by a black man of that time, that of starring leading man. One of the films, Defiant Ones, The (1958), gave Poitier his first Academy Award nomination as Best Actor. Five years later, he won the Oscar for Lilies of the Field (1963), the first black to win for a leading role. Poitier maintained activity on stage, on screen, and in the burgeoning civil rights movement. His roles in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) and To Sir, with Love (1967) were for their time landmarks in the breaking down of social barriers between blacks and whites, and Poitier's talent, conscience, integrity, and inherent likability placed him on equal footing with the white stars of the day. He ok on directing and producing chores in the Seventies, achieving success in both arenas. Although he has reduced the frequency of his roles in recent years, he remains one of the most respected and beloved figures in American cinema of the twentieth century. Wikipedia