Sidney Poitier is a renowned diplomat, actor, filmmaker and humanist. This man from a laborer, a native of a peasant family, was able to become the ambassador of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas to UNESCO and Japan.
Poitiers is known not only for his achievements in the field of cinema. His personal qualities are striking. The outstanding figure was awarded a medal by the President of the country.
Childhood and youth
In Florida, the city of Miami, another child appeared in the large family of Reginald and Evelyn Poitier on February 20, 1927. Farmers could only grow and sell tomatoes. Due to the very modest income, Sydney barely managed to survive.
With their newborn son, the parents returned to a tiny farm in the Bahamas, where they spent ten years. The boy worked hard, rarely attending school. The family moved to Nassau when the youngest was eleven.
There, Sydney learned about cinema. After twelve years old, to help the family, the future actor had to finally leave school and become a laborer. Without education, future prospects were very limited.
Because of Sydney's connection with bad company, the father convinced his fifteen-year-old son to move to the United States. The boy's older brother already lived in Miami. He himself was an American citizen. But there were all rights in the forties for a guy with dark skin only on paper.
He found employment quickly, but he could not get used to the constant humiliation. Summer has passed for washing dishes at the resort. The teenager decided to move to New York. He was robbed on the way. As a result, the young man got to Harlem with a few dollars.
Until he earned money to rent a room, he had to sleep on bus stations, rooftops. He had to work without warm clothes. Sydney added his age and went to serve in the army to save himself from the cold.
Thorny path to the stage
After the service, Poitiers returned to New York. He auditioned for the African American Community Theater in Harlem. A strong accent and difficulties with reading did not give the young man the opportunity to become an actor. But he didn't give up.
Work on myself took the next six months. In the theater, the future performer began work as a janitor. He took the payment for lessons at the theater school. Once the performer did not come to the production.
In order not to disrupt the performance, Poitiers was asked to replace him. On stage, the young man was at first confused. But he quickly came to his senses.
The director liked his game. He offered the young man a small role in the African American version of Lysistrata. The aspiring actor's work captivated critics and audiences. An invitation was received from the troupe of a more famous theater.
The first tour began with the drama "Anna Lucaste". Poitiers gained good experience in the new world of professionals. In the motion picture No Exit, Sydney played his first role in 1950. Prior to this project, black performers were given only the role of a servant.
But the powerful game and the racial war story were a revelation for the American audience. In Chicago, the film was immediately banned. He did not appear in most of the cities of the South. We did not see the picture in the Bahamas either.
However, due to the outbreak of unrest among the black population, the authorities made concessions. Despite the excellent performance, there were, as before, few serious roles for black performers.
Confession
For a number of years, Sydney, along with film and theater activities, was a worker. In 1955, at the age of twenty-seven, the actor played a high school student from School Jungle. The brutal world of the city school became a worldwide sensation. The performer has won fame.
In 1958, Stanley Kramer filmed the performer in the film On Heads Bending. The plot about escaped convicts Sydney played with Tony Curtis. Both are chained to each other, despise each other. But for freedom, they had to cooperate.
Critics greeted the film with enthusiasm. And Poitiers was nominated for an Oscar. Sidney's work on the adaptation of Porgy and Bess was highly praised. The performer did not leave the theater.
1959 saw the premiere of Lloyd Richards' Broadway production of Raisins in the Sun. The performer played the main role in a drama about the daily struggle of workers. The play entered the American theater classics, and in 1961 it was filmed.
The actor is attentive to the choice. He embodied the image of a handyman who convinced the impoverished order to build a chapel for the nuns in the 1963 painting "Lilies of the Field". The tape brought Poitiers an Oscar for Best Actor.
Three of Sydney's most famous films came out in 1967: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, To a Teacher with Love and A Stuffy Southern Night. The hero of the last tape is a dark-skinned detective who overcomes the prejudices of others when investigating.
The film won an Oscar as the best picture of the year. In 1972, Poitiers made his directorial debut, Buck and the Preacher. More interesting for the comedy director. He created the trilogy "Saturday Night Outskirts of the City", "Let's Do It Again", "Drive Clip".
Public life and personal
The actor constantly followed the events in the Bahamas. During the intensification of the struggle for independence, he left the States and returned home. Poitiers became a prominent figure in the movement. The Bahamas gained independence in 1973.
He released his paintings "Fraud", "Rampant", "Ghost Dad". Viewers like them now. In the telepictures, Sydney plays historical characters, including Nelson Mandela.
The actor continued to act until 2001, and finished directing in 1990. From 1998 to 2000, the performer was a member of the Board of Directors of the Walt Disney Company.
The performer and public figure married twice. His first wife in 1950 was Juanita Hardy. Four children were born in the marriage. The girls were named Pamela, Sherry, Beverly and Gina. The couple broke up in 1965.
The second chosen one of the Oscar winner is actress Joanna Shimkus, a Canadian with Lithuanian-Irish roots. The marriage was registered in 1976. Two daughters, Anika and Sidney Tamiyya, were born in it.
In the eighties and nineties, a talented actor and director published an autobiography. He has published several books. These public figures have become bestsellers. In 1997, Poitiers was appointed Ambassador of the Bahamas to Japan and UNESCO.
In 2001, the actor was awarded an honorary "Oscar" for his contribution to the cinema of America. In 2009, the President of the country presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to the performer, writer and director.
The public figure is constantly engaged in self-education. At the opening of the Ford Theater in Washington, the actor received the Order of Lincoln.
