Sidney Poitier
Photoplayd Industry Rating
Not enough rated films yet to compute a weighted score.
Roles are weighted by involvement: director 1.0, screenwriter 0.7, lead 0.8, supporting 0.4, crew 0.1.
Sidney Poitier KBE (February 20, 1927 – January 6, 2022) was a Bahamian and American actor, film director, and diplomat. In 1964, he became the first black actor and first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, for Lilies of the Field. Other accolades include two competitive Golden Globe Awards, a competitive British Academy of Film and Television Arts award (BAFTA), and a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album. Major films featuring Poitier in a starring role include Blackboard Jungle (1955), The Defiant Ones (1958), To Sir, with Love (1967), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), In the Heat of the Night (1967), Sneakers (1992), and The Jackal (1997). Later in his career, he turned to directing with features such as Buck and the Preacher (1972), Uptown Saturday Night (1974), Stir Crazy (1980), and Ghost Dad (1990). At the time of his death, Poitier was one of the last major stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema.
Known for
Credits
The Jackal (1997)
as Carter Preston
Sneakers (1992)
as Crease
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
as Virgil Tibbs
To Sir, with Love (1967)
as Mark Thackeray
The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
as Simon of Cyrene
Sidney (2022)
as Self
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
as John Prentice
The Defiant Ones (1958)
as Noah Cullen
A Patch of Blue (1965)
as Gordon Ralfe
Paris Blues (1961)
as Eddie Cook
Buck and the Preacher (1972)
as Buck
Shoot to Kill (1988)
as Warren Stantin
They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970)
as Virgil Tibbs
Lilies of the Field (1963)
as Homer Smith
Blackboard Jungle (1955)
as Gregory W. Miller
A Raisin in the Sun (1961)
as Walter Lee Younger
Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project (2007)
as Self
Let's Do It Again (1975)
as Clyde Williams
To Sir, with Love II (1996)
as Mark Thackeray
Edge of the City (1957)
as Tommy Tyler
Remembering Gene Wilder (2024)
as Self (archive photos)
Nationtime: Gary (1972)
as Self - Narrator
The Wilby Conspiracy (1975)
as Shack Twala
The Organization (1971)
as Virgil Tibbs
Little Nikita (1988)
as Roy Parmenter
A Piece of the Action (1977)
as Manny Durrell
The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn (1999)
as Noah Dearborn
Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night (1988)
as Self - Audience Member
The Bedford Incident (1965)
as Ben Munceford
No Way Out (1950)
as Luther Brooks
Night of 100 Stars II (1985)
as Self
Duel at Diablo (1966)
as Toller
Band of Angels (1957)
as Rau-Ru
King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970)
as Self (archive footage)
The Long Ships (1964)
as Aly Mansuh
The Slender Thread (1965)
as Alan Newell
Quincy Jones: In the Pocket (2001)
as Self
Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley (2013)
as Self
The Red Ball Express (1952)
as Robertson
Paul Newman: The Restless (2023)
as Self (archive footage)
Good-bye, My Lady (1956)
as Gates Watson
The Mark of the Hawk (1957)
as Obam
A Century of Cinema (1994)
as Self
The Making of ‘Sneakers’ (2003)
as Self
Reinventing Elvis: The 68' Comeback (2023)
as Self (archive footage)
Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick (1995)
as Self
Something of Value (1957)
as Kimani Wa Karanja
The Resurrection of Christ (2026)
Actor
Uptown Saturday Night (1974)
as Steve Jackson
For Love of Ivy (1968)
as Jack Parks
Mr. SOUL! (2018)
as Self (archive footage)
David and Lisa (1998)
as Dr. Jack Miller
The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn (1986)
as Self
Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist (1998)
as Reverend Msimangu (archive footage)
All the Young Men (1960)
as Sgt. Eddie Towler
Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light (2000)
Actor
The Lost Man (1969)
as Jason Higgs
Porgy and Bess (1959)
as Porgy
Sidney Poitier - The Man Who Changed Hollywood (2023)
as Self (archive footage)
Free of Eden (1999)
as Will Cleamons
The Last Brickmaker in America (2001)
as Henry Cobb
Martin Luther King and the March on Washington (2013)
as Self
Richard Widmark: Strength of Characters (2000)
as Self
Mandela and de Klerk (1997)
as Nelson Mandela
Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes / Feeling Heart (2017)
as Self
Pressure Point (1962)
as Doctor
Cry, the Beloved Country (1951)
as Reverend Msimangu
Poitier's Walter Lee (2018)
as Self (archive footage)
Separate but Equal (1991)
as Thurgood Marshall
Sing Your Song (2012)
as Self
A Star Without a Star: The Untold Juanita Moore Story (2025)
as Self
I Love Quincy (1984)
as Self
Sepia Cinderella (1947)
as Nightclub Extra (uncredited)
A Man Is Ten Feet Tall (1955)
as Tommy Tyler
Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist (1979)
as Narrator (voice)
A Warm December (1973)
as Dr. Matt Younger
Go Man Go (1954)
as Inman Jackson
The Madding Crowd (2017)
as Self (archive footage)
Virgin Island (1959)
as Marcus
Brother John (1971)
as John Kane
Hollywood Legenden (2004)
as Self
The Strolling '20s (1966)
as Self
A Cinderella Named Elizabeth (1965)
as Self
Three Young Americans in Search of Survival (1969)
as Himself
Afro Promo (1997)
as Self (archive footage)