Trivia / Lilies of the Field

• Banned in China: The film was banned by the South African apartheid censor board.
• Doing It for the Art: Sidney Poitier gave up his usual salary and agreed to do the film for a smaller amount and a percentage of the profits. Director Ralph Nelson had to put up his house as collateral.
• Non-Singing Voice: Jester Hairston, who wrote the gospel arrangement of Amen used in the film and who arranged the vocal parts, dubbed the vocals for Sidney Poitier, who was tone-deaf.
• Sequel in Another Medium: Christmas Lilies of the Field, 1979 Made-for-TV Movie in which Homer Smith (now played by Billy Dee Williams), returns and is "convinced" to build a kindergarten for a group of orphans and runaways whom the sisters have taken in.

---