Louis Gossett Jr. has passed away at 87, sad news in the world of entertainment. The actor was the first-ever Black man to win a supporting actor Oscar for An Officer and a Gentleman and was also a primetime Emmy winner for his role in the television series, Roots.
Gossett Jr.’s first cousin announced his uncle’s death to The Associated Press on Friday, March 29. It’s being reported that the actor died in Santa Monica, California the night before.
Louis Gossett Jr.’s Legacy
It’s important to note that the cause of Gossett Jr.’s passing has not been released as of this writing.
Gossett’s first major role was in 1977, playing Fiddler in the groundbreaking TV miniseries Roots, which depicted the horrendous acts of slavery.
He would end up winning an Emmy for this portrayal. He became the third Black Oscar nominee in 1983, winning the statue for...
Gossett Jr.’s first cousin announced his uncle’s death to The Associated Press on Friday, March 29. It’s being reported that the actor died in Santa Monica, California the night before.
Louis Gossett Jr.’s Legacy
It’s important to note that the cause of Gossett Jr.’s passing has not been released as of this writing.
Gossett’s first major role was in 1977, playing Fiddler in the groundbreaking TV miniseries Roots, which depicted the horrendous acts of slavery.
He would end up winning an Emmy for this portrayal. He became the third Black Oscar nominee in 1983, winning the statue for...
- 3/29/2024
- by Dorathy Gass
- Celebrating The Soaps
Louis Gossett Jr., who was the first Black man to win the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, has died. He was 87.
(Sidney Poitier was the first Black man to win an acting Oscar. His win, in 1964, was as the lead in “Lilies of the Field.”)
Gossett won the Academy Award for his role as Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Emil Foley, Richard Gere’s hardcore drill instructor in 1982 film “An Officer and a Gentleman.” He was just the third Black actor to receive a nomination in the category. Gossett won a Golden Globe for the role as well.
In 2023, Gossett appeared in the remake of “The Color Purple,” as well as in a pair of episodes of BET+ original series “Kingdom Business.” The same year, he lent his voice to an uncredited part of Michael Jai White’s “Outlaw Johnny Black.”
Gossett’s nephew told The Associated Press that the actor died in Santa Monica,...
(Sidney Poitier was the first Black man to win an acting Oscar. His win, in 1964, was as the lead in “Lilies of the Field.”)
Gossett won the Academy Award for his role as Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Emil Foley, Richard Gere’s hardcore drill instructor in 1982 film “An Officer and a Gentleman.” He was just the third Black actor to receive a nomination in the category. Gossett won a Golden Globe for the role as well.
In 2023, Gossett appeared in the remake of “The Color Purple,” as well as in a pair of episodes of BET+ original series “Kingdom Business.” The same year, he lent his voice to an uncredited part of Michael Jai White’s “Outlaw Johnny Black.”
Gossett’s nephew told The Associated Press that the actor died in Santa Monica,...
- 3/29/2024
- by Tony Maglio
- Indiewire
Since the Academy Awards were first handed out in 1929, only 23 Oscars have been awarded to performances given by Black actresses and actors. Hattie McDaniel made history for Black performers by winning for “Gone With the Wind” (supporting in 1939), while Sidney Poitier was the first male actor to prevail for “Lilies of the Field” (lead in 1963). Denzel Washington became the first two-time Black acting champion when he claimed victory for “Glory” (supporting in 1989) and “Training Day” (lead in 2001), with Mahershala Ali joining him years later for “Moonlight” (supporting in 2016) and “Green Book” (supporting in 2018). Halle Berry was the first, and so far only, Black Best Actress thanks to “Monster’s Ball” (2001). The acting category with the most Black winners is Best Supporting Actress, with 10 including recent champ Da’Vine Joy Randolph for “The Holdovers” (2023). Tour our photo gallery above of every Black actress and actor who won Academy Awards.
Let’s take a...
Let’s take a...
- 3/11/2024
- by Marcus James Dixon
- Gold Derby
Since the Academy Awards were first handed out in 1929, only 23 Oscars have been awarded to performances given by Black actresses and actors. Hattie McDaniel made history for Black performers by winning for “Gone With the Wind” (supporting in 1939), while Sidney Poitier was the first such male actor to prevail for “Lilies of the Field” (lead in 1963). Denzel Washington became the first two-time African-American acting champion when he claimed victory for “Glory” (supporting in 1989) and “Training Day” (lead in 2001), with Mahershala Ali joining him years later for “Moonlight” (supporting in 2016) and “Green Book” (supporting in 2018). Halle Berry was the first, and so far only, Black Best Actress thanks to “Monster’s Ball” (2001). The acting category with the most Black winners is Best Supporting Actress, with 10 including recent champ Da’Vine Joy Randolph for “The Holdovers” (2023). Tour our photos below to see every Black actress and actor who won Academy Awards. Gallery originally published...
- 3/11/2024
- by Marcus James Dixon
- Gold Derby
In the 95 years that they’ve been handing out Academy Awards, just 10 African-American actresses have won dating back to Hattie McDaniel’s famed supporting actress triumph for “Gone with the Wind” in 1940. Nine of those wins have come in Best Supporting Actress, with Halle Berry being the lone victor in Best Lead Actress for “Monster’s Ball” in 2002. Berry has expressed disappointment that no other Black winner has followed in her footsteps over the past two decades. But the truth is that while it was 51 years between McDaniel’s win and the second for Whoopi Goldberg in “Ghost” in 1991, things have improved significantly over the past few decades for African American actresses and actors in terms of winning at the Oscars in the supporting categories in particular.
This year, there are five opportunities for Black performers to take home an acting trophy spread across three categories: Colman Domingo (“Rustin”) and Jeffrey Wright...
This year, there are five opportunities for Black performers to take home an acting trophy spread across three categories: Colman Domingo (“Rustin”) and Jeffrey Wright...
- 2/28/2024
- by Ray Richmond
- Gold Derby
Exactly 20 years after he made history as the first Black performer to win a Golden Globe for a multi-part limited series, Jeffrey Wright is widely expected to triumph on his second general notice from the same organization. According to Gold Derby’s odds, he is the frontrunner in the 2024 Best Film Comedy/Musical Actor race based on his work in “American Fiction,” which is also set to compete for Best Comedy/Musical Film and Best Screenplay. If Wright at least prevails and thereby maintains his perfect Golden Globes record, he will become the third Black winner in his category’s seven-decade existence.
Adapted from the no-holds-barred 2001 novel “Erasure,” “American Fiction” was written and directed by first-time feature filmmaker Cord Jefferson, who has collected numerous accolades (including a Primetime Emmy) for his script work on such TV programs as “Watchmen” and “Succession.” Wright leads a primarily Black cast as fictional author Thelonious “Monk” Ellison,...
Adapted from the no-holds-barred 2001 novel “Erasure,” “American Fiction” was written and directed by first-time feature filmmaker Cord Jefferson, who has collected numerous accolades (including a Primetime Emmy) for his script work on such TV programs as “Watchmen” and “Succession.” Wright leads a primarily Black cast as fictional author Thelonious “Monk” Ellison,...
- 12/8/2023
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
The key to the success of Rod Serling's original run of "The Twilight Zone" (and its enduring popularity) was ingenuity in all aspects of production. Obviously, the writing was almost always top-notch, with episodes boasting wildly clever premises from genre masters like Richard Matheson, Charles Beaumont, and George Clayton Johnson. Though the budgets were modest, directors employed all manner of trickery and inventive makeup effects to dazzle and/or terrify viewers. Meanwhile, the strange tales conjured by Serling's stable of scribes required fully committed performances from actors both established and new to the scene. They had to roll with the weirdness.
On certain occasions, however, Serling and his collaborators couldn't resort to special effects to transport their audience. Sometimes, they had to shell out some dough and wow 'em with the real thing. And sometimes this forced the director to scramble a good deal more than usual. Such was...
On certain occasions, however, Serling and his collaborators couldn't resort to special effects to transport their audience. Sometimes, they had to shell out some dough and wow 'em with the real thing. And sometimes this forced the director to scramble a good deal more than usual. Such was...
- 11/19/2023
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
In 1940, Hattie McDaniel made history when she became the first Black actor to win an Oscar, taking home the award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Gone With the Wind. She bequeathed her Oscar to Howard University after her death in 1952, but at some point in the late ’60s/early ’70s, it went missing, never to be seen again.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today that they will be giving a replacement Oscar to Howard University’s Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts. The Oscar that Hattie McDaniel was awarded in 1940 wasn’t a statuette, but a plaque that all supporting acting winners received at the time. This replacement will be a proper Oscar statuette and will be presented at Howard’s Ira Aldrige Theater on October 1st during a ceremony called “Hattie’s Come Home.”
Related Gone With The Wind – The UnPopular...
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today that they will be giving a replacement Oscar to Howard University’s Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts. The Oscar that Hattie McDaniel was awarded in 1940 wasn’t a statuette, but a plaque that all supporting acting winners received at the time. This replacement will be a proper Oscar statuette and will be presented at Howard’s Ira Aldrige Theater on October 1st during a ceremony called “Hattie’s Come Home.”
Related Gone With The Wind – The UnPopular...
- 9/26/2023
- by Kevin Fraser
- JoBlo.com
At a time when weird tales were often dismissed by respectable critics — a time in which, sadly, we have never actually stopped living — the anthology series "The Twilight Zone" wasn't just popular, it was widely acclaimed. The show even won three Emmy Awards: two for its creator and writer, Rod Serling, for his many impressive and subversive scripts (Serling wrote 92 of the show's 156 episodes), and one for the show's primary cinematographer, George T. Clemens.
While it's still unusual for media in the weird horror genre to win any mainstream accolades, it's not altogether strange when a popular TV series wins at least some Emmy Awards. It is, however, exceptionally strange when an episode of a television series — any television series — wins an Academy Award. Because, you know, that's an award that specifically exists to honor movies instead of television.
And yet, that's exactly what happened to a "Twilight Zone" episode called.
While it's still unusual for media in the weird horror genre to win any mainstream accolades, it's not altogether strange when a popular TV series wins at least some Emmy Awards. It is, however, exceptionally strange when an episode of a television series — any television series — wins an Academy Award. Because, you know, that's an award that specifically exists to honor movies instead of television.
And yet, that's exactly what happened to a "Twilight Zone" episode called.
- 9/5/2023
- by William Bibbiani
- Slash Film
Denzel Washington made his feature film debut 40 years ago in 1981’s “Carbon Copy” and in the decades since has played everyone from real-life public figures such as civil rights activist Malcolm X and wrongly imprisoned boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter to crooked cops like Alonzo in “Training Day” and Joe Deacon in “The Little Things” to even William Shakespeare‘s most famed villain, Macbeth, in “The Tragedy of Macbeth.”
For his prolific nature and exemplary work, Washington has received numerous awards: he snagged his first Oscar nomination for 1987’s “Cry Freedom” and won his first Oscar two years later for 1989’s “Glory.” Twelve years after that, Washington made history when “Training Day” made him the first Black actor since Sidney Poitier (“Lilies of the Field” in 1963) to win in the Best Actor category. How much longer will he have to wait to add a third trophy to his shelf?
With 10 total...
For his prolific nature and exemplary work, Washington has received numerous awards: he snagged his first Oscar nomination for 1987’s “Cry Freedom” and won his first Oscar two years later for 1989’s “Glory.” Twelve years after that, Washington made history when “Training Day” made him the first Black actor since Sidney Poitier (“Lilies of the Field” in 1963) to win in the Best Actor category. How much longer will he have to wait to add a third trophy to his shelf?
With 10 total...
- 8/30/2023
- by Christopher Rosen, Chris Beachum, Zach Laws and Tom O'Brien
- Gold Derby
When the late Sidney Poitier embarked on a movie career in the early 1950s, he entered an industry with a history of depicting Black people in the most negative fashion. The Birth of a Nation, the seminal 1915 silent film, had set the template – portraying African American characters as sex-crazed and subhuman.
“Then Sidney Poitier comes along singlehandedly smashing decades of racist iconography and turning it all on its head,” said Reginald Hudlin, director of the Apple TV+ documentary Sidney. “Him doing it at the same time as the Civil Rights Movement is making these political gains, he changed the global image of Black people on Earth.”
Related: Sidney Poitier: A Groundbreaking Career In Pictures
Hudlin and producer Derik Murray appeared at Deadline’s Contenders Television: Documentary + Unscripted virtual event to discuss their film about the Oscar-winning star of Lilies of the Field, A Raisin in the Sun, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner...
“Then Sidney Poitier comes along singlehandedly smashing decades of racist iconography and turning it all on its head,” said Reginald Hudlin, director of the Apple TV+ documentary Sidney. “Him doing it at the same time as the Civil Rights Movement is making these political gains, he changed the global image of Black people on Earth.”
Related: Sidney Poitier: A Groundbreaking Career In Pictures
Hudlin and producer Derik Murray appeared at Deadline’s Contenders Television: Documentary + Unscripted virtual event to discuss their film about the Oscar-winning star of Lilies of the Field, A Raisin in the Sun, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner...
- 4/29/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
At this year’s Oscars, Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) made history by becoming the very first Asian performer to win Best Actress. Not only that, she’s just the second woman of color to have prevailed in that category following Halle Berry for “Monster’s Ball” (2001). Interestingly, both of them had similar trajectories getting to Hollywood’s biggest night.
SEEExperts slugfest: 2023 Oscars recap — Breaking down ‘Everything Everywhere’s’ unprecedented sweep
Heading into the 2001 Oscar season, the early frontrunner for Best Actress was Sissy Spacek for “In the Bedroom.” That movie marked the feature directorial debut for Todd Field, who at that point had worked in the industry mostly as an actor who also made short films on the side. And Spacek was already a previous winner for “Coal Miner’s Daughter” (1980).
She ended up winning the Critics Choice Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe for Best Film...
SEEExperts slugfest: 2023 Oscars recap — Breaking down ‘Everything Everywhere’s’ unprecedented sweep
Heading into the 2001 Oscar season, the early frontrunner for Best Actress was Sissy Spacek for “In the Bedroom.” That movie marked the feature directorial debut for Todd Field, who at that point had worked in the industry mostly as an actor who also made short films on the side. And Spacek was already a previous winner for “Coal Miner’s Daughter” (1980).
She ended up winning the Critics Choice Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe for Best Film...
- 3/13/2023
- by Jeffrey Kare
- Gold Derby
Having already won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award for his portrayal of Elvis Presley in “Elvis,” Austin Butler is on a solid path to triumphing on his first Oscar nomination. His film, which covers the entirety of the titular rock star’s two-decade career, boasts a talented cast that includes past Oscar winner Tom Hanks, who collected back-to-back Best Actor trophies for “Philadelphia” (1994) and “Forrest Gump” (1995). He missed out on a supporting bid for “Elvis,” but if Butler clinches the lead award, Hanks will become the 15th man to have acted in a film that won the same Oscar he previously received.
Hanks has a total of five Best Actor nominations to his name, with the three unsuccessful ones having come for his work in “Big” (1989), “Saving Private Ryan” (1999), and “Cast Away” (2001). Until Butler was recognized for “Elvis,” Hanks had never appeared in a film for which someone...
Hanks has a total of five Best Actor nominations to his name, with the three unsuccessful ones having come for his work in “Big” (1989), “Saving Private Ryan” (1999), and “Cast Away” (2001). Until Butler was recognized for “Elvis,” Hanks had never appeared in a film for which someone...
- 3/7/2023
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
The 70th Academy Award ceremony on March 23, 1998, is the most-watched Oscar ceremony to date — most likely due to a “Titanic” film nominated for several awards. However, Gil Gates, who produced 14 Oscar ceremonies between 1990 and 2008, also wanted a special segment to recognize Oscar’s platinum anniversary, and arranged for 70 past acting winners to sit together on the stage, with Norman Rose announcing the films for which each performer won. It was a spectacular gathering of actors and actresses from Classic Hollywood, New Hollywood and the contemporary period.
Let’s flashback to the first Oscars family album featured in the ceremony 25 years ago.
SEEOscar flashback 25 years to 1998: Winners are Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Robin Williams and ‘Titanic’ ratings for ABC
Among those present was the first performer to win back-to-back acting Oscars, Best Actress champ Luise Rainer. At the age of 88, she was the oldest one on the stage; when she...
Let’s flashback to the first Oscars family album featured in the ceremony 25 years ago.
SEEOscar flashback 25 years to 1998: Winners are Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Robin Williams and ‘Titanic’ ratings for ABC
Among those present was the first performer to win back-to-back acting Oscars, Best Actress champ Luise Rainer. At the age of 88, she was the oldest one on the stage; when she...
- 3/7/2023
- by Susan Pennington and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Sidney Poitier walked among kings and earned Hollywood’s highest honors, but that didn’t stop the Federal Bureau of Investigation from keeping tabs on the actor and philanthropist via informants and surveillance tactics during the civil rights era, according to documents newly obtained by Rolling Stone. Poitier, who passed away at age 94 on January 6, 2022, had a career that lasted 75 years and was surveilled by the agency at the height of his fame.
Poitier’s FBI file – requested via the Freedom of Information Act – is 13 pages long, covering 1959 to 1963, with...
Poitier’s FBI file – requested via the Freedom of Information Act – is 13 pages long, covering 1959 to 1963, with...
- 2/26/2023
- by Jenn Dize
- Rollingstone.com
When Sidney Poitier was honored as the first African American male to win a competitive acting Oscar in 1964 for his lead performance in “Lilies of the Field,” it had been 24 years since Hattie McDaniel became the Jackie Robinson of the Academy Awards with her breakthrough triumph in 1940 for “Gone With the Wind.” And it would be another 19 years before there was a third: Louis Gossett Jr.’s supporting actor victory in 1983 for “An Officer and a Gentleman.”
Wins for three performers of color in 43 years didn’t exactly represent a trend. But in the 39 years after that, there would be 19 more, including a pair of African American actors (Denzel Washington and Mahershala Ali) who won twice apiece. Poitier’s ’64 triumph proved as surprising as it was stirring, and undeniably political. Leading up to that historic event, his inscrutable countenance and the almost regal way he carried himself made Poitier a...
Wins for three performers of color in 43 years didn’t exactly represent a trend. But in the 39 years after that, there would be 19 more, including a pair of African American actors (Denzel Washington and Mahershala Ali) who won twice apiece. Poitier’s ’64 triumph proved as surprising as it was stirring, and undeniably political. Leading up to that historic event, his inscrutable countenance and the almost regal way he carried himself made Poitier a...
- 2/25/2023
- by Ray Richmond
- Gold Derby
In 2002, Halle Berry and Denzel Washington famously became the first African American performers to win lead acting Oscars in the same year (and still the only time ever). Berry was the first woman of color ever to win Best Actress (for “Monster’s Ball”) and only the third ever in any acting category, following supporting victors Hattie McDaniel for “Gone with the Wind” (1940) and Whoopi Goldberg for “Ghost” (1991) a half-century later. For Washington, his triumph for “Training Day” was his second Academy Award statuette (following a 1990 supporting win for “Glory”) and just the fifth ever for a Black male actor.
March 24, 2002 proved to be something of a magical night. Not only did Berry and Washington cap the night with wins, but Sidney Poitier, who won the first trophy for an African American male actor with his lead victory in 1964 for “Lilies of the Field,” was bequeathed an honorary award “for his...
March 24, 2002 proved to be something of a magical night. Not only did Berry and Washington cap the night with wins, but Sidney Poitier, who won the first trophy for an African American male actor with his lead victory in 1964 for “Lilies of the Field,” was bequeathed an honorary award “for his...
- 2/20/2023
- by Ray Richmond
- Gold Derby
The great acting legend Sidney Poitier died in January at age 94. He did not live to see the thrilling new documentary on his life and career, Sidney, which had its world premiere Saturday night at the Toronto Film Festival. However, it had its blessing, and that of his family, for a film that has been percolating and in development and then production for five years. And although Poitier himself didn’t get to see the finished work, everyone else will beginning on September 23 when it begins streaming on Apple TV+ and playing in selected theaters.
With Oprah Winfrey on board as a producer (with Derik Murray) and Reginald Hudlin as director, Poitier gets an extraordinarily comprehensive and wide-ranging look at his life told in linear fashion and narrated by himself through the use of eight hours of interview footage done in 2012 with Winfrey, as well as other archival interviews. This...
With Oprah Winfrey on board as a producer (with Derik Murray) and Reginald Hudlin as director, Poitier gets an extraordinarily comprehensive and wide-ranging look at his life told in linear fashion and narrated by himself through the use of eight hours of interview footage done in 2012 with Winfrey, as well as other archival interviews. This...
- 9/11/2022
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Oprah Winfrey will executive produce and Reginald Hudlin will direct Sidney, a documentary about the artistry and activism of the late Sidney Poitier.
Sidney, the sweeping doc about the Hollywood legend, which will bow in Toronto ahead of a Sept. 23 launch on AppleTV+, got off the ground thanks in large part to the persistence of the film’s Canadian co-producer Derik Murray. “This is a story that in many ways is long overdue, about an individual who really made a difference, who was a leader for all of us in how he approached his life as a role model and a mentor,” Murray tells The Hollywood Reporter.
In summer 2018, the veteran film producer first pitched Poitier and his wife Joanna after being introduced by Hollywood talent agent Barry Krost. “The first time I met him, he walked into his own living room and...
Oprah Winfrey will executive produce and Reginald Hudlin will direct Sidney, a documentary about the artistry and activism of the late Sidney Poitier.
Sidney, the sweeping doc about the Hollywood legend, which will bow in Toronto ahead of a Sept. 23 launch on AppleTV+, got off the ground thanks in large part to the persistence of the film’s Canadian co-producer Derik Murray. “This is a story that in many ways is long overdue, about an individual who really made a difference, who was a leader for all of us in how he approached his life as a role model and a mentor,” Murray tells The Hollywood Reporter.
In summer 2018, the veteran film producer first pitched Poitier and his wife Joanna after being introduced by Hollywood talent agent Barry Krost. “The first time I met him, he walked into his own living room and...
- 9/10/2022
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Sidney Poitier’s barrier-breaking legacy is now back on the big screen.
The Documentary “Sidney,” directed by Academy Award nominee Reginald Hudlin (“Marshall”), focuses on Poitier’s career as an actor, filmmaker, and activist during the Civil Rights Movement. Interviews with Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Halle Berry, Robert Redford, Lenny Kravitz, and Barbra Streisand frame the film, which is produced by Oprah Winfrey and Derik Murray in close collaboration with the Poitier family.
Winfrey’s Harpo Productions and the Network Entertainment produce the Apple Original Film, set to debut September 23 on AppleTV+ and in select theaters. Jesse James Miller wrote the documentary, with Terry Wood, Catherine Cyr, Brian Gersh, Paul Gertz, Reginald Hudlin, Joanna Shimkus Poitier, Anika Poitier, and Barry Krost executive producing.
Poitier says in the trailer, “I left the Bahamas with this sense of myself. And from the time I got off the boat, America began to say to me,...
The Documentary “Sidney,” directed by Academy Award nominee Reginald Hudlin (“Marshall”), focuses on Poitier’s career as an actor, filmmaker, and activist during the Civil Rights Movement. Interviews with Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Halle Berry, Robert Redford, Lenny Kravitz, and Barbra Streisand frame the film, which is produced by Oprah Winfrey and Derik Murray in close collaboration with the Poitier family.
Winfrey’s Harpo Productions and the Network Entertainment produce the Apple Original Film, set to debut September 23 on AppleTV+ and in select theaters. Jesse James Miller wrote the documentary, with Terry Wood, Catherine Cyr, Brian Gersh, Paul Gertz, Reginald Hudlin, Joanna Shimkus Poitier, Anika Poitier, and Barry Krost executive producing.
Poitier says in the trailer, “I left the Bahamas with this sense of myself. And from the time I got off the boat, America began to say to me,...
- 8/17/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Today Apple unveiled the trailer for the new documentary film “Sidney,” produced by Oprah Winfrey.
From producer Oprah Winfrey and directed by Academy Award nominee Reginald Hudlin, this revealing documentary honors the legendary Sidney Poitier and his legacy as an iconic actor, filmmaker and activist at the center of Hollywood and the Civil Rights Movement. Featuring candid interviews with Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Robert Redford, Lenny Kravitz, Barbra Streisand, Spike Lee and many more, the film is also produced by Derik Murray, in close collaboration with the Poitier family.
The actor was recognized twice by The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. The first time was when Actress Anne Bancroft presented Poitier the Oscar for Best Actor for Lilies of the Field at the 36th Academy Awards.
Sidney Poitier received an Honorary Oscar, presented by Denzel Washington, for his body of work at the 74th Annual Academy Awards.
Produced by Oprah Winfrey,...
From producer Oprah Winfrey and directed by Academy Award nominee Reginald Hudlin, this revealing documentary honors the legendary Sidney Poitier and his legacy as an iconic actor, filmmaker and activist at the center of Hollywood and the Civil Rights Movement. Featuring candid interviews with Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Robert Redford, Lenny Kravitz, Barbra Streisand, Spike Lee and many more, the film is also produced by Derik Murray, in close collaboration with the Poitier family.
The actor was recognized twice by The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. The first time was when Actress Anne Bancroft presented Poitier the Oscar for Best Actor for Lilies of the Field at the 36th Academy Awards.
Sidney Poitier received an Honorary Oscar, presented by Denzel Washington, for his body of work at the 74th Annual Academy Awards.
Produced by Oprah Winfrey,...
- 8/16/2022
- by Michelle Hannett
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
“It’s not easy being the first when you have to represent the entire race,” Spike Lee explains during the first official trailer for Reginald Hudlin’s Sidney, the Apple TV+ documentary chronicling the life and legacy of filmmaker and activist Sidney Poitier. Out Sept. 23, the film uses archival footage and candid interviews to strikingly capture Poitier’s positioning as an essential cultural thread between Hollywood and the civil rights movement.
Poiter, who died this year at age 94, blazed a trail followed by generations of Black actors and filmmakers, having...
Poiter, who died this year at age 94, blazed a trail followed by generations of Black actors and filmmakers, having...
- 8/16/2022
- by Larisha Paul
- Rollingstone.com
Toronto Film Festival: Tyler Perry, Peter Farrelly, Catherine Hardwicke Films Set for Gala Treatment
Click here to read the full article.
The 2022 Toronto Film Festival has added world premieres for Tyler Perry’s new Netflix film, A Jazzman’s Blues; Peter Farrelly’s Vietnam War movie The Greatest Beer Run Ever, which stars Russell Crowe and Zac Efron; and the Catherine Hardwicke dramatic thriller Prisoner’s Daughter, starring Kate Beckinsale and Brian Cox.
As TIFF unveiled 18 Gala program titles to screen in Roy Thomson Hall, the festival booked red carpet launches for Hubert Davis’s Black Ice, a documentary about Black hockey players executive produced by Drake; Alice, Darling, director Mary Nighy’s psychological thriller led by Anna Kendrick; Gabe Polsky’s frontier epic Butcher’s Crossing, which stars Nicolas Cage; and Francesca Archibugi’s The Hummingbird, toplined by Nanni Moretti, Berenice Bejo and Pierfrancesco Favino.
Toronto is returning for a 47th edition to run Sept. 8 to 18 that will be in-person, with Hollywood stars on red carpets...
The 2022 Toronto Film Festival has added world premieres for Tyler Perry’s new Netflix film, A Jazzman’s Blues; Peter Farrelly’s Vietnam War movie The Greatest Beer Run Ever, which stars Russell Crowe and Zac Efron; and the Catherine Hardwicke dramatic thriller Prisoner’s Daughter, starring Kate Beckinsale and Brian Cox.
As TIFF unveiled 18 Gala program titles to screen in Roy Thomson Hall, the festival booked red carpet launches for Hubert Davis’s Black Ice, a documentary about Black hockey players executive produced by Drake; Alice, Darling, director Mary Nighy’s psychological thriller led by Anna Kendrick; Gabe Polsky’s frontier epic Butcher’s Crossing, which stars Nicolas Cage; and Francesca Archibugi’s The Hummingbird, toplined by Nanni Moretti, Berenice Bejo and Pierfrancesco Favino.
Toronto is returning for a 47th edition to run Sept. 8 to 18 that will be in-person, with Hollywood stars on red carpets...
- 7/28/2022
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Sidney Poitier, Betty White and Ivan Reitman received heartfelt tributes on Oscar Sunday.
Tyler Perry paid homage to Poitier before the opening of the annual In Memoriam segment.
“He was the first, and for far too long, the only Black man to win an Oscar for best actor,” Perry said of Poitier, who made history with his win in 1964. “When he stood on that stage, he did more than shatter a barrier. He stood there for all that came before him, and sparked the dreams of all who followed. To quote Mr. Poitier himself, ‘As the cats say in my area, I’m out there wailing for us all.’ I would not be here today without Sidney. All of us are so blessed and honored to have been inspired by him. To you, sir, with all of our love.”
Poitier died on Jan. 7 at 94. His legendary filmography includes “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,...
Tyler Perry paid homage to Poitier before the opening of the annual In Memoriam segment.
“He was the first, and for far too long, the only Black man to win an Oscar for best actor,” Perry said of Poitier, who made history with his win in 1964. “When he stood on that stage, he did more than shatter a barrier. He stood there for all that came before him, and sparked the dreams of all who followed. To quote Mr. Poitier himself, ‘As the cats say in my area, I’m out there wailing for us all.’ I would not be here today without Sidney. All of us are so blessed and honored to have been inspired by him. To you, sir, with all of our love.”
Poitier died on Jan. 7 at 94. His legendary filmography includes “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,...
- 3/28/2022
- by Angelique Jackson and Maane Khatchatourian
- Variety Film + TV
Will Smith is now the reigning king of Best Actor, winning the Oscar for “King Richard.” (See the complete Oscars winners list.) His transformative performance as Richard Williams, the father/mentor of tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams, netted him a win over some tough competition: Benedict Cumberbatch (“The Power of the Dog”), Andrew Garfield and two previous Oscar winners, Javier Bardem (“Being the Ricardos”) and Denzel Washington (“The Tragedy of Macbeth”).
Smith’s win was overshadowed by what happened earlier in the evening, when he slapped Chris Rock in the face on live TV for making a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. “I want to apologize to the academy,” an emotional Smith stated in his acceptance speech (watch above). “I look like the crazy father, just what they said about Richard Williams. But love will make you do crazy things … I hope the academy invites me back.
Smith’s win was overshadowed by what happened earlier in the evening, when he slapped Chris Rock in the face on live TV for making a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. “I want to apologize to the academy,” an emotional Smith stated in his acceptance speech (watch above). “I look like the crazy father, just what they said about Richard Williams. But love will make you do crazy things … I hope the academy invites me back.
- 3/28/2022
- by Kevin Jacobsen and Marcus James Dixon
- Gold Derby
The Oscar campaign for “Coda” has touted the film as “history-making.” If you wanted to be a literal-minded curmudgeon about it, you could say that the history it’s talking about was already made — when Marlee Matlin, in 1986, became the first deaf performer to win an Academy Award for best actress, for her great, ardent, wounded performance in “Children of a Lesser God.” Matlin deserved to win.
Nevertheless, history works in waves. Sidney Poitier made history by becoming the first Black actor to be a Hollywood star, as well as the first to win an Academy Award for best actor. But in 2001, there were three Black actors nominated for lead performance at the Oscars: Halle Berry for “Monster’s Ball,” Denzel Washington for “Training Day,” and Will Smith for “Ali”. And that was history-making too: a recognition of the leap from the world of Poitier, who for too many years was...
Nevertheless, history works in waves. Sidney Poitier made history by becoming the first Black actor to be a Hollywood star, as well as the first to win an Academy Award for best actor. But in 2001, there were three Black actors nominated for lead performance at the Oscars: Halle Berry for “Monster’s Ball,” Denzel Washington for “Training Day,” and Will Smith for “Ali”. And that was history-making too: a recognition of the leap from the world of Poitier, who for too many years was...
- 3/1/2022
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
After descending from the ceiling on a gold swing á la Nicole Kidman in Best Picture nominee “Moulin Rouge,” Oscar hostess Whoopi Goldberg, adorned with feathers and a sparkly top hat, entertained the audience with jokes, while also honoring the fact that it had been barely six months since America was hit with the 9/11 tragedy. She also warned that it was going to be a long night, and indeed it was; at four hours and 23 minutes, the 74th ceremony is the longest Oscar telecast in the history of the awards show. And whereas there weren’t a lot of surprises, it was a solemn evening of acknowledging the importance of film during times of crises, a night that honored several Oscar firsts, and a ceremony that celebrated a Hollywood icon. Let’s flashback 20 years ago to the Academy Awards of 2002.
Just days ago, legendary actor Sidney Poitier died at the...
Just days ago, legendary actor Sidney Poitier died at the...
- 1/31/2022
- by Susan Pennington
- Gold Derby
We lost Sidney Poitier, and his impact is immeasurable. He was a titan in the industry who broke barriers and Oscar records. He became the first Black man to be nominated for any acting Oscar for “The Defiant Ones” (1958). At 37, he was the first to win any competitive Oscar for “Lilies of the Field” (1963), which paved the way for Black excellence to be considered attainable by Hollywood-accolade measures.
At the 2002 Academy Awards ceremony, Poitier was given an honorary award the same night Denzel Washington won best actor (“Training Day”) and Halle Berry took home best actress (“Monster’s Ball”). Poitier is so often not acknowledged when people reflect on that night; they fail to realize how many industry events and celebrity crises had to occur for the evening to be possible. Between Russell Crowe throwing a phone and the timing of Poitier’s honor announcement, it was the perfect alignment that led to this milestone.
At the 2002 Academy Awards ceremony, Poitier was given an honorary award the same night Denzel Washington won best actor (“Training Day”) and Halle Berry took home best actress (“Monster’s Ball”). Poitier is so often not acknowledged when people reflect on that night; they fail to realize how many industry events and celebrity crises had to occur for the evening to be possible. Between Russell Crowe throwing a phone and the timing of Poitier’s honor announcement, it was the perfect alignment that led to this milestone.
- 1/14/2022
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Updated with latest: Networks are marshaling to set programming this month in tribute of Sidney Poitier, the groundbreaking and Oscar-winning actor and civil rights activist who died last week at age 94.
OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network will feature special programming this Sunday that includes the iconic actor’s 2000 and 2007 appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show and an airing of his 1967 film To Sir, With Love. The network also said that it will air the 2015 special Oprah Winfrey Presents: Legends Who Paved the Way featuring Poitier at a gala honoring “some of the legendary men and extraordinary women of the civil rights movement who made history.”
To Sir, With Love and the Oprah Winfrey Show episodes will be available beginning Sunday on the WatchOWN app, the network said.
TCM said today that it will roll out 12 Poitier movies in a marathon programming block Saturday and Sunday, February 19-20. February 20 will mark what...
OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network will feature special programming this Sunday that includes the iconic actor’s 2000 and 2007 appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show and an airing of his 1967 film To Sir, With Love. The network also said that it will air the 2015 special Oprah Winfrey Presents: Legends Who Paved the Way featuring Poitier at a gala honoring “some of the legendary men and extraordinary women of the civil rights movement who made history.”
To Sir, With Love and the Oprah Winfrey Show episodes will be available beginning Sunday on the WatchOWN app, the network said.
TCM said today that it will roll out 12 Poitier movies in a marathon programming block Saturday and Sunday, February 19-20. February 20 will mark what...
- 1/13/2022
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Sidney Poitier holding his best actor Oscar, won for his role in Lilies of the Field (1963). The singular actor, director, and civil rights activist Sidney Poitier died last Thursday. An immigrant from the Bahamas who rose to prominence through the American Negro Theatre, then Broadway, Poitier entered Hollywood when few complex roles for Black actors were available. He became the first Black man to win the best actor Oscar in 1963 for Lillies of the Field, but also frequently received criticism for playing roles perceived as overly chaste and stately. Poitier persisted nonetheless, and later directed his own films, such as Buck and the Preacher (1972), starring his friend Harry Belafonte and Ruby Dee, and the Gene Wilder-Richard Pryor prison break comedy Stir Crazy (1980). The prolific critic, programmer, and filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich also died on Thursday.
- 1/12/2022
- MUBI
Sidney Poitier was an electrifying presence on-screen. In life, he used his charisma and his renown as forces for change.
The actor best known for history-making roles in such films as “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” “In the Heat of the Night” and “Lilies of the Field” made immense contributions to the civil rights movement. Dr. Russell Wigginton, president of the Memphis-based National Civil Rights Museum, points to Poitier’s staunch support of Martin Luther King Jr. and the actor’s participation in the 1966 March Against Fear through one of Mississippi’s most deeply segregated regions.
Poitier, who died Jan. 6 at the age of 94, worked his way up an overwhelmingly white industry by playing against type. He famously refused to take on stereotypical roles for a Black male actor. With his talent and his tenacity, Poitier built bridges and opened doors for so many. At the same time, he was dedicated to civil rights.
The actor best known for history-making roles in such films as “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” “In the Heat of the Night” and “Lilies of the Field” made immense contributions to the civil rights movement. Dr. Russell Wigginton, president of the Memphis-based National Civil Rights Museum, points to Poitier’s staunch support of Martin Luther King Jr. and the actor’s participation in the 1966 March Against Fear through one of Mississippi’s most deeply segregated regions.
Poitier, who died Jan. 6 at the age of 94, worked his way up an overwhelmingly white industry by playing against type. He famously refused to take on stereotypical roles for a Black male actor. With his talent and his tenacity, Poitier built bridges and opened doors for so many. At the same time, he was dedicated to civil rights.
- 1/12/2022
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
I grew up idolizing Sidney Poitier.
I was around 9 when he flickered into my world on a television replay of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.” I was a latchkey kid in Cleveland, daughter of a white, single mother and a Black father — whose union their parents had frowned upon. In the film, Sidney and his co-star, Katharine Houghton, play an interracial couple whose parents also struggle with their children’s relationship. There I sat in front of my mom’s old console, mesmerized, as I watched my family’s dynamic play out. For the first time in my childhood, I felt seen. Understood. Validated. The world already knew Sidney, who died last week at 94, as a formidable performer. But I first experienced him as a mirror.
I watched that film over and over again, through my middle-school years and beyond. By then, my mother had moved our family from a...
I was around 9 when he flickered into my world on a television replay of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.” I was a latchkey kid in Cleveland, daughter of a white, single mother and a Black father — whose union their parents had frowned upon. In the film, Sidney and his co-star, Katharine Houghton, play an interracial couple whose parents also struggle with their children’s relationship. There I sat in front of my mom’s old console, mesmerized, as I watched my family’s dynamic play out. For the first time in my childhood, I felt seen. Understood. Validated. The world already knew Sidney, who died last week at 94, as a formidable performer. But I first experienced him as a mirror.
I watched that film over and over again, through my middle-school years and beyond. By then, my mother had moved our family from a...
- 1/12/2022
- by Halle Berry
- Variety Film + TV
Sidney Poitier’s two most iconic moments as an actor both occur in the 1967 Oscar-winning drama “In the Heat of the Night.” The first is his famous declaration “They call me Mister Tibbs!” The second arrives when his big-city detective is questioning a Mississippi cotton tycoon, who slaps Tibbs for implying that he’s a criminal. Tibbs slaps him back — an act of shocking-at-the-time defiance that Poitier improvised, and one that gave a jolt to film history. It connected, electrifyingly, with the militancy of the late ’60s, and left no doubt that Poitier was a figure of mythological magnitude.
As the first Black movie star, the Jackie Robinson of cinema, the trailblazer who always felt (by his own admission) that it was his obligation to represent, Poitier changed the movies with the very fact of presence. Yet it was the meaning of his presence, the ferocity and containment of it,...
As the first Black movie star, the Jackie Robinson of cinema, the trailblazer who always felt (by his own admission) that it was his obligation to represent, Poitier changed the movies with the very fact of presence. Yet it was the meaning of his presence, the ferocity and containment of it,...
- 1/11/2022
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
SAG-AFTRA mourns the loss of SAG Life Achievement Award recipient Sidney Poitier, who died last week at the age of 94.
Poitier was a trailblazing performer whose most recognizable roles included Virgil Tibbs in In the Heat of the Night and John Prentice in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. In 1963 he became the first African American to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for Lilies of the Field.
“Sidney Poitier was a brilliant and dignified actor who broke the ceiling for many actors of color that followed in his footsteps,” said SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher. “Blessed by a long life, he remains a most respected, admired, accomplished actor by his industry peers.”
“My parents met him at an event I took them to where Sidney was being honored,” Drescher continued. “My mom grabbed him, hugged him and told him what a big fan she was, how much she loved him...
Poitier was a trailblazing performer whose most recognizable roles included Virgil Tibbs in In the Heat of the Night and John Prentice in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. In 1963 he became the first African American to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for Lilies of the Field.
“Sidney Poitier was a brilliant and dignified actor who broke the ceiling for many actors of color that followed in his footsteps,” said SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher. “Blessed by a long life, he remains a most respected, admired, accomplished actor by his industry peers.”
“My parents met him at an event I took them to where Sidney was being honored,” Drescher continued. “My mom grabbed him, hugged him and told him what a big fan she was, how much she loved him...
- 1/11/2022
- Look to the Stars
Sidney Poitier, who died at age 94 last week, was a leading man in many ways: teaching the teacher in The Blackboard Jungle, learning from students in To Sir, With Love, and schooling the public on historic achievement with each part he took, from the slender threads to the defiant ones. One of Poitier’s greatest roles is as a costar, not only taking second billing to Richard Widmark in The Bedford Incident (1965), but to the premise of the movie itself: World War III in the Atomic Age. It may sound like a sci-fi setup, but the science was not fiction.
Poitier, who won the Best Actor Oscar in 1964 for Lilies of the Field, plays magazine reporter Ben Munceford in The Bedford Incident. The Cold War thriller isn’t as well-known as Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove or: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb or Sidney Lumet’s Fail-Safe,...
Poitier, who won the Best Actor Oscar in 1964 for Lilies of the Field, plays magazine reporter Ben Munceford in The Bedford Incident. The Cold War thriller isn’t as well-known as Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove or: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb or Sidney Lumet’s Fail-Safe,...
- 1/11/2022
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
Chicago – With the passing of actor Sidney Poitier at the age of 94 on January 6th, 2022, another lion of the cinema – who represented succinctly an era of the movies – has left the mortal coil. HollywoodChicago.com presents the following appreciation through three film essays in retrospect by Patrick McDonald, Spike Walters and Jon Lennon Espino.
Although Poitier represented American blacks in his early career, often cast as the dignified presence among the bigotry floating around him, his early life was in the Bahamas. He moved to Miami at age 15 (he was born in Miami while his Bahamian parents sold produce there) and after serving in the Army during World War II, he joined the American Negro Theater in New York City.
Poster Art: ‘Lilies of the Field’ (1963), Featuring Oscar Best Actor Sidney Poitier
Photo credit: HBO Max (VOD)
After working in theater, he made his major film debut in 1950 with the incendiary “No Way Out.
Although Poitier represented American blacks in his early career, often cast as the dignified presence among the bigotry floating around him, his early life was in the Bahamas. He moved to Miami at age 15 (he was born in Miami while his Bahamian parents sold produce there) and after serving in the Army during World War II, he joined the American Negro Theater in New York City.
Poster Art: ‘Lilies of the Field’ (1963), Featuring Oscar Best Actor Sidney Poitier
Photo credit: HBO Max (VOD)
After working in theater, he made his major film debut in 1950 with the incendiary “No Way Out.
- 1/10/2022
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
This commentary on the life and legacy of Sidney Poitier was first published in the 2006 BAFTA/LA Cunard Britannia Awards, as part of the organization’s lifetime achievement award tribute to the trailblazing star, who died Jan. 6 at the age of 94.
Is Sidney Poitier the most important actor in American history?
One could quickly defend that question affirmatively simply with a newsreel of clips showing heroes like Martin Luther King Jr., from Birmingham to the March on Washington, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, Jackie Robinson and Rosa Parks; Olympians Tommy Smith and John Carlos with their fists in the 1968 Mexico City air; rabid segregationists Bull Connor, Lester Maddox and George Wallace; the sit-ins and the accompanying firehoses and attacking police dogs; the segregated public spaces, the high-profile Ku Klux Klan marches and their low-profile lynchings.
To any American film fan who lived through the Civil Rights revolution of the 1950s and ’60s,...
Is Sidney Poitier the most important actor in American history?
One could quickly defend that question affirmatively simply with a newsreel of clips showing heroes like Martin Luther King Jr., from Birmingham to the March on Washington, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, Jackie Robinson and Rosa Parks; Olympians Tommy Smith and John Carlos with their fists in the 1968 Mexico City air; rabid segregationists Bull Connor, Lester Maddox and George Wallace; the sit-ins and the accompanying firehoses and attacking police dogs; the segregated public spaces, the high-profile Ku Klux Klan marches and their low-profile lynchings.
To any American film fan who lived through the Civil Rights revolution of the 1950s and ’60s,...
- 1/9/2022
- by Steven Gaydos
- Variety Film + TV
Following the passing of the Hollywood Icon Sidney Poitier on Friday, Deadline has confirmed that Apple is in the middle of filming a documentary on the Oscar-winning actor with Oprah Winfrey exec producing and Reginald Hudlin directing. Winfrey will produce through her Harpo Productions and Network Entertainment.
The doc had been under wraps and in production for more than a year and is an in-depth documentary about the life of the great Poitier that includes the participation of his family. The doc will be an Apple Original Films release.
Poitier, who died Friday at the age of 94 at his home in Beverly Hills, was the first Black man to win an Academy Award for best actor for 1963’s Lilies of the Field. Following that break-out performance that turned him into a star, the Oscar-winner would continue to be a trailblazer in helping opening doors for other minority performers as he...
The doc had been under wraps and in production for more than a year and is an in-depth documentary about the life of the great Poitier that includes the participation of his family. The doc will be an Apple Original Films release.
Poitier, who died Friday at the age of 94 at his home in Beverly Hills, was the first Black man to win an Academy Award for best actor for 1963’s Lilies of the Field. Following that break-out performance that turned him into a star, the Oscar-winner would continue to be a trailblazer in helping opening doors for other minority performers as he...
- 1/8/2022
- by Justin Kroll
- Deadline Film + TV
“Sidney Poitier was the epitome of Black Dignity, Black beauty, Black pride and Black power” by “N.Y. Times” Charles M. Blow Sidney Poitier family issues statement on his death: “he is our guiding light.” “Sidney L. Poitier Kbe, February 20, 1927 – January 6, 2022, R.I.P. Sidney Poitier was a Bahamian-American actor, film director, activist, and ambassador. In 1964, he was the first black person and first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. He received two Academy Award nominations, ten Golden Globes nominations, two Primetime Emmy Awards nominations, six BAFTA nominations, eight Laurel nominations, and one Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG) nomination. Poitier’s entire family lived in the Bahamas, then still a British colony, but he was born unexpectedly in Miami while they were visiting for the weekend, which automatically granted him U.S. citizenship. He grew up in the Bahamas, but moved to Miami at age 15, and to...
- 1/8/2022
- by HollywoodNews.com
- Hollywoodnews.com
At the news of Oscar winner Sidney Poitier’s death at age 94, tributes poured in from around the world about his impact as both an entertainer and as an activist. Now, his family has shared a statement, in which they pay honor to the man “who always put family first.” Read the statement in full below. There are no words to convey the deep sense of loss and sadness we are feeling right now. We are so grateful he was able to spend his last day surrounded by his family and friends. To us Sidney Poitier was not only a brilliant actor, activist, and a man of incredible grace and moral fortitude, he was also a devoted and loving husband, a supportive and adoring father, and a man who always put family first. He is our guiding light who lit up our lives with infinite love and wonder. His smile was healing,...
- 1/8/2022
- by Mark Peikert
- Indiewire
Sidney Poitier’s family remembered the Hollywood giant as a humanitarian, a leader and a devoted artist in a statement issued Friday evening, a day after his death at the age of 94.
The actor, who became the first Black person to win the Oscar for lead actor with 1963’s “Lilies of the Field,” died at his home in Los Angeles on Jan. 6. Poitier was Hollywood’s first major Black box office star, constantly blazing trails with film roles such as Dr. John Wade Prentice in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” and Mark Thackeray in “To Sir, With Love,” as well as with his activism in the heart of the Civil Rights era. Along with many prominent Hollywood figures, his family reflected on his legacy of art and compassion.
“There are no words to convey the deep sense of loss and sadness we are feeling right now. We are so grateful...
The actor, who became the first Black person to win the Oscar for lead actor with 1963’s “Lilies of the Field,” died at his home in Los Angeles on Jan. 6. Poitier was Hollywood’s first major Black box office star, constantly blazing trails with film roles such as Dr. John Wade Prentice in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” and Mark Thackeray in “To Sir, With Love,” as well as with his activism in the heart of the Civil Rights era. Along with many prominent Hollywood figures, his family reflected on his legacy of art and compassion.
“There are no words to convey the deep sense of loss and sadness we are feeling right now. We are so grateful...
- 1/8/2022
- by Selome Hailu
- Variety Film + TV
Over the holidays, TCM showed one of my favorite movies of all time, 1967’s “To Sir With Love. “ It stars Sidney Poitier as Mark Thackeray from British Guyana who takes a job as a teacher in the East End of London filled rowdy Cockney students who have little interest in their curriculum. Sir, as his class calls him, realizes that what these teens need is a course in how to make a life for themselves in the world outside a classroom.
Eventually, his pupils realize that he has their best interests at heart and they celebrate at a dance before his flock flies off into real world . Seeing a sexy and sweaty Poitier cut a rug by doing the Pony and the Jerk with Judy Geeson’s flirtatious student was just like receiving an extra surprise gift under my tree.
Little did I know that this silver screen legend, who...
Eventually, his pupils realize that he has their best interests at heart and they celebrate at a dance before his flock flies off into real world . Seeing a sexy and sweaty Poitier cut a rug by doing the Pony and the Jerk with Judy Geeson’s flirtatious student was just like receiving an extra surprise gift under my tree.
Little did I know that this silver screen legend, who...
- 1/8/2022
- by Susan Wloszczyna
- Gold Derby
Actor, director, and activist Sidney Poitier is no longer with us, and while fans of classic film stars know these days are fated to come it’s never easy. With a man like Poitier, especially, it was hoped he’d have more years (though 94 is no small feat). He was a trailblazer from the moment he made his debut in 1950’s “No Way Out.”
From there, Poitier had a string of features that didn’t just shake up Hollywood but were thought-provoking and entertaining. The 1960s were when Poitier truly came into his own, with hit after hit that cemented him as an A-list leading man, a groundbreaking achievement for a Black actor. His features allowed him to play characters who were ambitious, intelligent, and romantic. The latter trait is especially poignant considering Hollywood’s long-standing avoidance of presenting interracial romances on the screen.
It’s shocking to realize that Poitier was only nominated twice,...
From there, Poitier had a string of features that didn’t just shake up Hollywood but were thought-provoking and entertaining. The 1960s were when Poitier truly came into his own, with hit after hit that cemented him as an A-list leading man, a groundbreaking achievement for a Black actor. His features allowed him to play characters who were ambitious, intelligent, and romantic. The latter trait is especially poignant considering Hollywood’s long-standing avoidance of presenting interracial romances on the screen.
It’s shocking to realize that Poitier was only nominated twice,...
- 1/8/2022
- by Kristen Lopez
- Indiewire
Cheryl Boone Isaacs, former president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, remembers Oscar winner Sidney Poitier as “a beautiful man, a creative individual, who gave a lot.”
Isaacs, who now serves as the founding director of the Sidney Poitier New American Film School at Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, talked poignantly and openly with Variety after learning the news of his passing on Friday at the age of 94.
“Mr. Poitier’s light was very bright,” Isaacs says. “He probably wasn’t aware of it, because most people with a lot of light are not because they’re busy being who they are.”
Poitier was the first Black man to be nominated for best actor for his performance in “The Defiant Ones” (1958), later becoming the first to win best actor for “Lilies of the Field” (1963). Recalling the night of his historic win,...
Isaacs, who now serves as the founding director of the Sidney Poitier New American Film School at Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, talked poignantly and openly with Variety after learning the news of his passing on Friday at the age of 94.
“Mr. Poitier’s light was very bright,” Isaacs says. “He probably wasn’t aware of it, because most people with a lot of light are not because they’re busy being who they are.”
Poitier was the first Black man to be nominated for best actor for his performance in “The Defiant Ones” (1958), later becoming the first to win best actor for “Lilies of the Field” (1963). Recalling the night of his historic win,...
- 1/7/2022
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Every artist hopes to make the world a better place. Sidney Poitier actually did.
It was partly timing. When the actor, who died Friday, made his film debut in 1950’s “No Way Out,” Hollywood was ready to tackle the issue of racial equality. After centuries of bigotry, 20th century mass media like radio and newsreels alerted the public to cases of blatant prejudice like the 1931 Scottsboro trial. Consciousness was slowly being raised by negative examples as well as positive ones, such as the contributions of Black people during World War II.
So Hollywood cautiously opened the gates. There were other Black actors in lead film roles, including James Edwards and Harry Belafonte, but they were rare. It was Poitier who captured the public imagination, with his soft but powerful voice, his precise way of speaking and, crucially, his integrity.
Poitier was given opportunities in Hollywood; more important is what he did with them.
It was partly timing. When the actor, who died Friday, made his film debut in 1950’s “No Way Out,” Hollywood was ready to tackle the issue of racial equality. After centuries of bigotry, 20th century mass media like radio and newsreels alerted the public to cases of blatant prejudice like the 1931 Scottsboro trial. Consciousness was slowly being raised by negative examples as well as positive ones, such as the contributions of Black people during World War II.
So Hollywood cautiously opened the gates. There were other Black actors in lead film roles, including James Edwards and Harry Belafonte, but they were rare. It was Poitier who captured the public imagination, with his soft but powerful voice, his precise way of speaking and, crucially, his integrity.
Poitier was given opportunities in Hollywood; more important is what he did with them.
- 1/7/2022
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
Hollywood and the nation are mourning a Hollywood pioneer today. Click on the photo above to launch a photo gallery on the career of Oscar winner Sidney Poitier, who has died at 94.
His 60-year résumé is filled with groundbreaking roles in singular movies. He played the Philadelphia homicide detective Virgil Tibbs investigating a murder in a Deep South town (In the Heat of the Night and its sequel), the doctor who gets engaged to a white woman and deals with uncertainly from both sets of parents and a convict chained to a white fellow escapee (Tony Curtis) in The Defiant Ones.
Poitier was the first Black person to win an lead-acting Oscar (Lilies of the Field), the first whose character shared an onscreen interracial kiss in a major movie and the first whose character physically struck a white co-star onscreen.
His 60-year résumé is filled with groundbreaking roles in singular movies. He played the Philadelphia homicide detective Virgil Tibbs investigating a murder in a Deep South town (In the Heat of the Night and its sequel), the doctor who gets engaged to a white woman and deals with uncertainly from both sets of parents and a convict chained to a white fellow escapee (Tony Curtis) in The Defiant Ones.
Poitier was the first Black person to win an lead-acting Oscar (Lilies of the Field), the first whose character shared an onscreen interracial kiss in a major movie and the first whose character physically struck a white co-star onscreen.
- 1/7/2022
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
Refresh for updates… Tributes are pouring in for Oscar-winning actor, director, civil rights activist and humanitarian Sidney Poitier, who has died at age 94.
“For over 80 years, Sidney and I laughed, cried and made as much mischief as we could,” said Harry Belafonte in a statement (the two met in the mid-1940s while working at The American Negro Theatre in New York City). “He was truly my brother and partner in trying to make this world a little better. He certainly made mine a whole lot better.”
In a statement to Deadline, Denzel Washington said, “It was a privilege to call Sidney Poitier my friend. He was a gentle man and opened doors for all of us that had been closed for years. God bless him and his family.”
Sidney Poitier: A Groundbreaking Career In Pictures
Westworld actor Jeffrey Wright was among the first to share his thoughts on Poitier’s passing.
“For over 80 years, Sidney and I laughed, cried and made as much mischief as we could,” said Harry Belafonte in a statement (the two met in the mid-1940s while working at The American Negro Theatre in New York City). “He was truly my brother and partner in trying to make this world a little better. He certainly made mine a whole lot better.”
In a statement to Deadline, Denzel Washington said, “It was a privilege to call Sidney Poitier my friend. He was a gentle man and opened doors for all of us that had been closed for years. God bless him and his family.”
Sidney Poitier: A Groundbreaking Career In Pictures
Westworld actor Jeffrey Wright was among the first to share his thoughts on Poitier’s passing.
- 1/7/2022
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
The actor, whose groundbreaking work in the 1950s and 60s paved the way for generations of black film stars, has died aged 94.
Poitier, who was born in Miami but raised in the Bahamas, was the first black winner of the best actor Oscar, for his role in Lilies of the Field. He was a pioneering black presence in mainstream Hollywood cinema.
His death was announced on Friday by Fred Mitchell, the minister of foreign affairs of the Bahamas
Sidney Poitier, Black acting pioneer, dies aged 94...
Poitier, who was born in Miami but raised in the Bahamas, was the first black winner of the best actor Oscar, for his role in Lilies of the Field. He was a pioneering black presence in mainstream Hollywood cinema.
His death was announced on Friday by Fred Mitchell, the minister of foreign affairs of the Bahamas
Sidney Poitier, Black acting pioneer, dies aged 94...
- 1/7/2022
- The Guardian - Film News
Sidney Poitier, the first Black actor to win an Academy Award (for his performance in 1963’s “Lilies of the Field”), has died at age 94. Tributes from friends and famous fans immediately began to pour in, honoring a trailblazer who forged a way forward for Black performers. Poitier enjoyed a lengthy career, first on Broadway and then starring in films including “In the Heat of the Night,” “A Raisin in the Sun” (in which he reprised his starring role from Broadway), “To Sir, With Love,” “A Patch of Blue,” and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.”
“What a landmark actor. One of a kind. What a beautiful, gracious, warm, genuinely regal man,” Jeffrey Wright shared on Twitter. Lee Grant, his co-star in “In the Heat of the Night,” tweeted, “Sidney was a force of nature. One of [the] most intelligent, beautiful, and unstoppable human beings I’ve ever known. He made our world,...
“What a landmark actor. One of a kind. What a beautiful, gracious, warm, genuinely regal man,” Jeffrey Wright shared on Twitter. Lee Grant, his co-star in “In the Heat of the Night,” tweeted, “Sidney was a force of nature. One of [the] most intelligent, beautiful, and unstoppable human beings I’ve ever known. He made our world,...
- 1/7/2022
- by Mark Peikert
- Indiewire
Sidney Poitier, whose dignity and self-assertion ushered in a new era in the depiction of African-Americans in Hollywood films as the civil rights movement was remaking America, has died, a spokesperson for the Bahamian Prime Minister confirmed to Variety. He was 94. Poitier was the oldest living winner of the best actor Oscar — just one distinction in a career full of distinctions.
“Our whole Bahamas grieves and extends our deepest condolences to his family. But even as we mourn, we celebrate the life of a great Bahamian, a cultural icon, an actor and film director, an entrepreneur, civil and human rights activist and, latterly, a diplomat,” said Phillip Davis, Prime Minister of the Bahamas in a statement. “We admire the man not just because of his colossal achievements, but also because of who he was. His strength of character, his willingness to stand up and be counted, and the way he...
“Our whole Bahamas grieves and extends our deepest condolences to his family. But even as we mourn, we celebrate the life of a great Bahamian, a cultural icon, an actor and film director, an entrepreneur, civil and human rights activist and, latterly, a diplomat,” said Phillip Davis, Prime Minister of the Bahamas in a statement. “We admire the man not just because of his colossal achievements, but also because of who he was. His strength of character, his willingness to stand up and be counted, and the way he...
- 1/7/2022
- by Rick Schultz
- Variety Film + TV
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