News and SocietyCelebrities

Sidney Poitier is an actor who broke the Hollywood racial barrier

World-famous actor, director, humanist and diplomat. He inspires not only cinematic achievements, but also personal qualities, he was awarded by the US President with the Freedom Medal for his contribution to world culture and peacekeeping. A man who has gone from a laborer from a modest peasant family to an ambassador of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas in Japan and UNESCO.

Childhood

Sidney Poitier was born on February 20, 1927 in Miami, Florida. His parents Reginald and Evelyn Poitier were simple farmers from Cat Island (the Bahamas) and earned a living by growing and selling tomatoes. Since the large family had a very modest income, the boy barely survived in the first months of his life. After childbirth with the baby Sidney, the parents returned to their farm, which was on a tiny island. The boy spent the first ten years of his life working with his family on the farm. He attended school very rarely, working on a family farm took too much time. When Sidney turned eleven years old, his family moved to Nassau, where he met with the fruits of industrial civilization and cinema. In 12 years to help the 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 contacted a bad company, the father, fearing that the boy would become a criminal, insisted on his move to the United States. Sydney's older brother had already settled in Miami, and at the age of 15 the young man joined him.

Youth

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

After a summer spent washing dishes at the resort, Poitiers left the South and traveled to New York. On the way, he was robbed, and in Harlem the 16-year-old boy came with a few dollars in his pocket. He slept on bus stations and roofs, until he earned enough money to afford a rented room. Unused to winter cold, Sidney could not afford warm clothes, then he lied about his age and went into the army to save himself from the cold.

Returning to New York, he decided to change his life, and it is not known how the biography would have formed for Sidney Poitier, if not for the audition in the Harlem Theater of the African-American community. Having been denied because of the Caribbean accent and bad reading skills, the young Poitier took it as a challenge and decided to become an actor whatever the cost. For the next six months, he worked hard on himself.

Theater

Later, Sidney returned to the theater and worked as a janitor in exchange for classes at the theater school. One day the performance could fail due to the lack of actor Harry Belafont, and Poitier was allowed to replace him. Sydney was at first a bit embarrassed on stage, but then he pulled himself together, his acting game attracted the attention of the Broadway director, who offered him a small role in the Afro-American production of the Greek comedy Lysistratus. Critics and spectators were fascinated by the work of the young actor. He was invited to join the troupe of the more famous community theater. The tour began with the production of the drama "Anne Lukaste" - so Sidney Poitier got into the world of African-American professional actors, where he got serious experience.

The first works in the cinema

The debut of Sidney in the movie was the role of a young doctor in the film "No Way Out" (1950). Prior to this work in American cinema, black actors played only the role of servants, the powerful play of Poitiers and the plot of the painting, dedicated to combating racial hatred, became a revelation for the American audience. The film was banned for a short while to show in Chicago, and in most southern cities and did not ever go to the screens. In the Bahamas, which at that time were a colony of Great Britain, the film was also banned, which aroused the unrest of the black population, the authorities had to make concessions, and the independence movement became more active.

Although Sidney Poitier's acting was well received by the audience, there were still few dramatic roles for black actors. For a number of years, Poitier has alternated work in theater and cinema with low-wage labor of a simple worker. In 1955, the 27-year-old actor played the role of a high school student in the film "School Jungle". The picture, telling about the tough world of the city school, and the startling play of Poitiers became an international sensation. So the actor gained fame from a wide audience.

Sydney Poitier: filmography

In 1958, Poitiers starred in the film "Do not bend the head" director Stanley Kramer. The creative tandem of Poitiers and Tony Curtis, as well as the plot of the film, about runaway convicts, confined to each other and, despite their mutual contempt, forced to cooperate to achieve freedom, received rave reviews of critics and box office success. For his work on the role of Poitiers was nominated for an Oscar.

The role of the actor in the screen version of the work "Porgy and Bess" also received high praise from critics. Despite his stellar status in cinematography, Poitiers continues to play in the theater. Thus, in 1959, the premiere of the play "Raisins in the Sun" was staged on Broadway, based on Lorein's play directed by Lloyd Richards and Poitiers in the title role. The play about the everyday struggle for the life of the working class received the approving responses of critics and became a classic of American drama. In 1961, "Izyum in the Sun" was filmed.

Feeling his involvement in the growing struggle against racial discrimination in the United States, South Africa and the Bahamas, Poitiers is very attentive to the choice of roles in the cinema. In the film "Lilies of the Fields" (1963), he played a handyman who persuaded to build a chapel for an impoverished order of nuns who fled from East Germany. The film was a huge success and brought Poitiers the Oscar for Best Actor. The joy of such an achievement Sidney Poitiers photo is not able to convey.

1967 was marked by the release of the three most famous films with the participation of Poitiers: "To the teacher with love", "Guess who will come for dinner" and "A stifling southern night". In the latter, Poitiers played the role of a black detective, who, when investigating a murder, overcomes the racial prejudices of townspeople and the sheriff. The film won the Oscar as the best picture of the year.

Poitiers tries his hand at directing and in 1972 makes his debut with the film "The Tank 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. So there was a famous trilogy: "Saturday evening on the outskirts of the city", "Let's do it again" and "Drive clip".

Sidney always watched the events in his homeland, and when the independence movement in the Bahamas became more active, he left the US at the height of his acting career and returned to his homeland. There he becomes a prominent participant in the struggle for independence, and in 1973 the Bahamas receives the status of an independent state. In 1980-1990, Sidney Poitier published an autobiography and continued directing. His comedies "Wildly Crazy", "Fraud", "Full-Ahead" and "Papa-ghost" are still very popular among spectators. As an actor Poitiers appears in a number of television films and plays historical personalities, including South African President Nelson Mandela.

Public and political activities

Having dual citizenship in the Bahamas and the United States, Poitiers in 1997 received an offer to become Ambassador of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas to Japan. Since that time he is also a permanent national representative of the Bahamas to UNESCO. In recent years, Poitier devoted most of his time to writing and published several books that have become best-sellers.

A person who at the age of sixteen could hardly read, constantly engaged in his education and now knows several languages. By the way, Sydney Poitier speaks Russian rather well.

In 2001, he received the second prize "Oscar" - this is a special prize for life achievements. In 2009, he was introduced to the Lincoln Order for "achievements that illustrate the character and lasting legacy" of President Lincoln. The Order was presented at the opening of the Ford Theater in Washington, attended by US President Barack Obama. In the same year, President Obama awarded Sidney Poitier with the Freedom Medal.

Similar articles

 

 

 

 

Trending Now

 

 

 

 

Newest

Copyright © 2018 en.birmiss.com. Theme powered by WordPress.