5 Things You Need to Know About Sidney Poitier

MarriedAtTheMovies
4 min readFeb 17, 2017

There are actors. There are movie stars. And then there’s Sidney Poitier.

Poitier is and will always be a brilliant figure in film history; a key bridge in 20th century African American cinema between black actor as caricature and black actor as actor. With his poise, intelligence, grace, and emotional intensity, Poitier was the right man for the times: at the height of the Civil Rights movement, in 1964, he became the first African American actor to bring home the Best Actor Oscar and the single most prominent African American in the film industry.

Here at Warner Archive, we are honored to be able to have him in our archive with the film that made him a star: 1955’s Blackboard Jungle, and on the occasion of his 90th birthday we’re looking back at the life and legacy of this living legend. Don’t have Warner Archive? Don’t worry! Join now and receive a *free* Roku streaming stick with your annual subscription.

Here are 5 things about Poitier you need to know:

#5. He is the ultimate self-made man

Poitier moved from the Bahamas to Miami as a teenager. But after an encounter with the KKK, he moved to NYC…penniless. For a while, Poitier was homeless, sleeping in a bus station bathroom. His heavy island accent prevented him from landing roles at Harlem’s American Negro Theatre. Poitier worked hard to soften his island accent by imitating radio announcers and studying American newspapers.

#4. He Fought Against Type

After being noticed by Daryl F. Zanuck in his early 20s, he fought to be a black actor in a white man’s industry, and then fought to portray black characters as real human beings and not stereotype. His first role, in fact, in the harrowing film noir No Way Out was completely against the norm: Poitier portrayed a well-spoken, highly intelligent black doctor dealing with a bitter racist who claims Poitier killed his brother. It is not an easy role, it is hardly an easy movie, and Poitier nailed it. He popped in and out of movies throughout the early ’50s, but one movie broke the mold and made Poitier a bona-fide movie star: Blackboard Jungle (1955).

#3. His Films Were (and are) Socially important.

Blackboard Jungle (1955) is a solid example of this. One of the most important movies of its time, the film tackled inner-city race relations and juvenile delinquency. It appealed widely to the Rock and Roll generation, and the rock and roll anthem “Rock Around the Clock” is a part of the soundtrack. In some movie theatres, the kids were so electrified by the movie and the music that it led to raucous dancing in the aisles and, in some cases, riots and vandalism. Blackboard Jungle was banned in many cities, fearing the it would lead young people astray. (Poitier is actually 28 years old in Blackboard Jungle, playing a high school kid.) Blackboard Jungle was added to the National Film Registry in 2016 as being “culturally significant.”

#2. Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte have been BFFs for 70 years.

Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte met before either of them had “made it” in Hollywood, at the American Negro Theatre in Harlem. They were born just 8 days apart and have been best friends for the last 70 years. Belafonte was an activist in the Civil Rights Movement (he was a close friend and confidant of Dr. Martin Luther King) and influenced Poitier to work for the cause — at one point, they were chased and shot at by Klansmen after trying to smuggle money to Freedom Summer volunteers in the South.

#1. He Never Stopped Making History.

After Blackboard Jungle, Poitier would be the first African-American ever nominated for Best Actor for the movie The Defiant Ones, co-starring Tony Curtis. 5 years later, he’d make history by winning Best Actor for Lilies of the Field. In addition to groundbreaking films like In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Poitier would go one to be a steadily working director in Hollywood, worked as the Bahamian Ambassador to Japan, and was awarded the highest civilian honor — the Presidential Medal of Freedom — by President Barack Obama in 2009.

Watch Sidney Poitier now on Warner Archive in Blackboard Jungle, now streaming on the newly revamped Warner Archive! Available on desktop as well as Roku, Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, and Android, Warner Archive is the perfect streaming service for anyone who loves classic movies and TV. Explore the archive and get a *free* Roku Streaming Stick with your annual subscription:

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MarriedAtTheMovies

Stuck in a rift in the space-time continuum … and loving it.