[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sidney_poitier.jpg]]

->"''I'll always be chasing you, Sidney, I'll always be following in your footsteps. There's nothing I would rather do, sir, nothing I would rather do.''"
--> --'''Creator/DenzelWashington''', while accepting the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2002

Sidney Poitier [[UsefulNotes/BritishHonours KBE]] (February 20, 1927 – January 6, 2022) was a Bahamian-American actor and director, who might be regarded as the UsefulNotes/JackieRobinson of dramatic film acting in North America. Before him, the notion of a Black man taking serious leading roles in mainstream American films was all but scoffed at, but this magnificent actor broke through the prejudice to make an invaluable precedent for minority actors and paid the price for it along the way.

Poitier made his screen debut as an uncredited extra in the 1947 {{race film}} ''Sepia Cinderella'', and landed his first Hollywood role three years later in Creator/JosephLMankiewicz's ''No Way Out''. After hitting the big time as a bright-but-troubled high school delinquent in the 1955 SaveOurStudents drama ''Film/BlackboardJungle'', Poitier soon became a special presence in classic films like ''Film/TheDefiantOnes'' and ''Film/ARaisinInTheSun''. He was the first Black man to be nominated for an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Actor (for ''The Defiant Ones'') and later the first one to win (for 1963's ''Film/LiliesOfTheField''). Unfortunately, Poitier was all too aware that this was effectively an award for being the TokenMinority in Hollywood, and he felt the pressure to set an example by playing characters that showed African Americans in a positive light to bury the old [[UncleTomfoolery Stepin Fetchit stereotypes]].

Although Poitier was harried at the height of his career with endless questions about racial issues and The UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement, he had another achievement of becoming the #1 box office movie star in 1967 with the hit films, ''Film/ToSirWithLove'', ''Film/InTheHeatOfTheNight'' (which won the UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Picture), and ''Film/GuessWhosComingToDinner''.

Afterward, as tastes changed, his acting career declined, but he was able to be a successful director (''Film/StirCrazy'') and later Ambassador to The Bahamas as minority talents reaped the rewards of Poitier's trailblazing. In addition to his Academy honors, he was nominated for seven UsefulNotes/{{Golden Globe Award}}s (winning for ''Lillies of the Field''), six UsefulNotes/{{BAFTA}}s (winning for ''The Defiant Ones''), two UsefulNotes/{{Grammy Award}}s for Best Spoken Word Album (winning for his 2008 book ''Life Beyond Measure: Letters to My Great-Granddaughter''), and two Primetime UsefulNotes/{{Emmy Award}}s during his career. Little known fact: he was also UsefulNotes/{{knight|fever}}ed, so he ''did'' [[ObligatoryJoke become]] [[Film/ToSirWithLove a Sir]]!

Poitier died on January 6, 2022, at the age of 94.

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!!Sidney Poitier on TV Tropes:

* ''Film/BlackboardJungle'' (1955)
* ''Film/EdgeOfTheCity'' (1957)
* ''Film/TheDefiantOnes'' (1958)
* ''Film/ParisBlues'' (1961)
* ''Theatre/ARaisinInTheSun'' (1961)
* ''Film/LiliesOfTheField'' (1963)
* ''Film/TheLongShips'' (1964)
* ''Film/TheBedfordIncident'' (1965)
* ''Film/TheGreatestStoryEverTold'' (1965) (cameo)
* ''Film/APatchOfBlue'' (1965)
* ''Film/GuessWhosComingToDinner'' (1967)
* ''Film/InTheHeatOfTheNight'' (1967)
** ''[[Film/TheyCallMeMisterTibbs1970 They Call Me Mister Tibbs!]]'' (1970)
** ''Film/TheOrganization'' (1971)
* ''Film/ToSirWithLove'' (1967)
* Buck and The Preacher (1972) (directorial debut)
* ''Film/StirCrazy'' (1980) (director, didn't star)
* ''Film/ShootToKill'' (1988)
* ''Film/LittleNikita'' (1988)
* ''Film/GhostDad'' (1990) (director, didn't star)
* ''Film/{{Sneakers}}'' (1992)
* ''Film/TheJackal'' (1997)
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