b. Miami. The first African-American actor to achieve the status of a leading man in Hollywood films, Poitier combined poise with an innate projection of dignity and self-assurance. Many of his films have addressed issues of race directly, including the pioneering No Way Out (1950); the internationally acclaimed Cry, the Beloved Country (1951), after Alan Paton’s novel; The Defiant Ones (1957), the film that established Poitier; Lilies of the Field (1963; Academy Award); Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? (1967), which treated the subject of interracial marriage; and In the Heat of the Night (1967). He turned to direction in 1971, and retired from acting soon thereafter. Among his films is the top-grossing Stir Crazy (1980). In 1988, he returned to the screen, portraying Thurgood Marshall in the television film Separate But Equal.
Sidney Potier
