Sidney Poitier’s Iconic Films and TV Shows: Redefining Representation in Media

Iconic TV Shows Featuring Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier’s television appearances include notable works such as the television film ‘Separate but Equal’ where he portrayed Thurgood Marshall in 1991, and ‘Children of the Dust’ where he played Gypsy Smith in 1995. He also reprised his role as Mr. Mark Thackeray in ‘To Sir, with Love II’ in 1996, and starred in ‘Mandela and de Klerk’ as Nelson Mandela in 1997.

Furthermore, Poitier’s filmography also includes his memorable role in ‘The Last Brickmaker in America’ as Henry Cobb in 2001, and he appeared in the television film ‘Free of Eden’ as Will Cleamons in 1998. His work in these films highlights his impactful contributions to television and his commitment to portraying important historical figures.

• In the Heat of the Night (1967): Although he wasn’t nominated at the Oscars, Sidney’s groundbreaking work as Virgil Tibbs helped carry “In the Heat of the Night” to a Best Picture victory. It was an especially notable win given that Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated earlier that month. Tibbs is a Black detective who allies with a white police chief played by Rod Steiger. The murder case brings Tibbs to Mississippi where bigotry lurks around every corner. Even when confronting a prejudiced plantation owner, Tibbs commands respect. In addition to the immortal line, “They call me Mister Tibbs,” Poitier’s greatest contribution was a retaliating slap – a moment he fought to keep in the film. It’s just one of the many examples of how Sidney forever changed cinema and broke down barriers for people of color.
• A Raisin in the Sun (1961): Poitier originated the role of Walter Lee Younger in the Broadway production of “A Raisin in the Sun,” earning a Tony nomination. About two years later, he immortalized his performance on the silver screen. Walter stands out as one of Poitier’s most complex roles. A proud man who’s struggled for everything he has, Walter sees the opportunity to give his family a better life when they receive a $10,000 insurance check. Money can’t solve every problem, though, especially when mishandled. For all of Walter’s flaws, the audience can’t help but empathize with him. Walter has found nothing but roadblocks in his pursuit of the American Dream. Once he starts listening to his family, though, Walter finds the courage to make their dreams a reality.
• Lilies of the Field (1963): Although he didn’t win for “The Defiant Ones,” Poitier went down as the first Black man to take home the Best Actor Oscar for “Lilies of the Field.” Poitier plays Homer Smith, a handyman who befriends several nuns, none of whom speak English especially well. Although reluctant, Homer is convinced to build them a chapel. Along the way, he inadvertently brings the community together and lives out an unfulfilled dream. While Smith’s skin color is referenced a few times, it’s not the focus of the plot. A white actor could’ve been cast as Homer without drastically changing the story. Poitier’s presence adds another layer, however, resulting in a film that was more progressive than some may’ve initially realized.
• The Defiant Ones (1958): “The Defiant Ones” marked Poitier’s first collaboration with director Stanley Kramer and brought him his first Oscar nomination. Most significantly, Poitier became the first African-American to be nominated for Best Actor. Poitier’s Cullen shares the screen with Tony Curtis’ Joker. These two prisoners also share a chain, the only thing preventing them from killing each other. Being white, Joker initially sees himself at an advantage in this dynamic. Cullen quickly asserts, though, that he’s no pushover. If Joker wants to escape the authorities, he’ll have to work with Cullen, who maintains an unbreakable spirit even in the face of defeat. Their mutual animosity gradually evolves into respect and possibly even friendship. It’s a thought-provoking buddy picture that still resonates today thanks to Curtis and Poitier.
• Both In the Heat of the Night (1967) and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) were landmarks in helping to break down some social barriers between blacks and whites.
• Sidney Poitier’s 7 MOST MEMORABLE PERFORMANCES include iconic roles that have left a lasting impact on film and TV.
• His roles in To Sir, with Love (1967) and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) showcased his ability to tackle complex social issues through compelling storytelling.

How Sidney Poitier Redefined Representation in Movies and Television

Cinema Civil Rights presents the untold history of how Black audiences, activists, and lobbyists influenced the representation of race in Hollywood in the decades before the 1960s civil rights era.

Employing a nuanced analysis of power, Ellen C. Scott reveals how these representations were shaped by a complex set of negotiations between various individuals and organizations.

Rather than simply recounting the perspective of film studios, she calls our attention to a variety of other influential institutions, from protest groups to state censorship boards.

Scott demonstrates not only how civil rights debates helped shaped the movies, but also how the movies themselves provided a vital public forum for addressing taboo subjects like interracial sexuality, segregation, and lynching.

Slow Fade to Black is the definitive history of African-American accomplishment in film–both before and behind the camera–from the earliest movies through World War II.

As he records the changing attitudes toward African-Americans both in Hollywood and the nation at large, Cripps explores the growth of discrimination as filmmakers became more and more intrigued with myths of the Old South: the ‘lost cause’ aspect of the Civil War, the stately mansions and gracious ladies of the antebellum South, the ‘happy’ slaves singing in the fields.

Cripps shows how these characterizations culminated in the blatantly racist attitudes of Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation, and how this film inspired the N.A.A.C.P. to campaign vigorously–and successfully–for change.

Making Movies Black shows how movies anticipated America’s changing ideas about race.

Cripps contends that founded in the liberal rhetoric of the war years–with the catchwords brotherhood and tolerance–came movies which defined a new African-American presence both in film and in American society at large.

Poitier’s first film, No Way Out, was one of the first films to tackle the topic of racial tensions in America.

It broke with typical portrayals of Black characters as subservient and cowering.

The film’s release also coincided with the nascent civil rights movement in the U.S., and was subject to strict censorship rules and bans, particularly in Southern cinemas, but also in the Bahamas, where the country’s colonial film board refused to show the film.

Outraged Bahamians of African descent soon gathered together to form the Citizens Committee to demand the ban on the movie be lifted. They won.

Off the back of their success, a movement arose, leading to the country’s first political party, the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP).

This party was formed to advance self-government, wider political representation, and call for more government social programs. Eventually, it formed a majority party in 1967, leading to the country achieving full independence from English colonial rule in 1973.

After his first foray into film, Poitier continued to star in features that subverted typical expectations of Black characters and actors of the time and dealt with race head on.

Cry the Beloved Country (1952), which examined the scourge of apartheid in South Africa, and Blackboard Jungle (1955), a social drama based on an interracial inner-city school, were just some of Poitier’s acting achievements during this time.

In 1958, his role in The Defiant Ones, a film that broke racial barriers, earned him an Academy Award nomination for best actor.

This was a first for Poitier, and also for any Black actor in a leading role.

Poitier lamented the portrayal of Black people as ‘always negative, buffoons, clowns, shuffling butlers, really misfits.’

He stated he ‘chose not to be a party to the stereotyping.’

Poitier wanted to reflect the types of Black Americans on screen that he saw in everyday life.

However, his role in films that favored integration also drew heavy criticism from some Black critics who said he wasn’t revolutionary enough.

In the wake of such criticisms, Poitier took a break from Hollywood and returned to the Bahamas to reassess his priorities.

Poitier expressed, “I wanted to make movies in which Black people could sit in the theater and laugh at themselves without restraint and feel good about it.”

After 10 years of not acting, Poitier returned to the screen in such roles as FBI agent Warren Stantin in Shoot to Kill (1988) and as civil rights icon Nelson Mandela in Mandela and de Klerk (1997).

During the making of the documentary Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light, director Lee Grant admitted that Sidney had expressed that he wanted her to ‘think in broader terms’ while shaping the narrative of her film.

‘Sidney said to me when I asked him to do this, he said, “You know, I want you to think in terms of my being more than a Black man.”’