Making the audience fully believe in the reality of the character is the fundamental objective of an actor/actress. Truthfulness, sincerity, and naturalness coupled with an insight into human nature, intelligence, and a sense of imagination constitute the nucleus of an actor’s craft/creed. Acclaimed actor Sir Sidney Poitier epitomizes these attributes in a unique and profound manner. A career spanning over 60 years, Poitier has garnered the highest accolades in his field, among them an Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA, Grammy, and an Honorary Academy Award. The son of Reginald James and Evelyn Poitier – tomato farmers from Cat Island in the Bahamas, Sir Sidney Poitier was born on February 20, 1927, in Miami, Florida. He is not only an accomplished theatrical/film actor and director, but an esteemed author, having written three memoirs, the most renowned – The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography (2000). He serves as the Bahamian Ambassador to UNESCO and Japan, positions he currently holds. The father of six daughters, Poitier resides in southern California with his second wife, Joanna Shimkus, a Canadian-born actress of Lithuanian descent.
From the onset of his career, Poitier consciously selected and played forceful characters that embodied something valuable, realistic, positive, and long-lasting about the human condition. A repertoire consisting of over 42 films, Poitier was a firm advocate in the principle that a person’s line of work reflects their character. A product of the integrationist era, Poitier is generally acknowledged as Hollywood’s first black matinee idol. Race, however, did not limit or stigmatize him. In Poitier’s words, “To require a white to write only for whites is stupid. To require me to write only for blacks is also stupid (American Film, September/October 1991).”
No Way Out, Brother John, and Uptown Saturday Night showcase a glimpse into his talent and flexibility as an actor. A black and white film noir, No Way Out (August 16. 1950), garnered a place in film history as a result of Poitier’s searing and formidable debut.
Directed by Academy Award-winning director, producer, and screenwriter, Joseph L. Mankiewicz [The Philadelphia Story, All About Eve], No Way Out starred Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell, Stephen McNally, and husband/wife team – Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. Poitier plays Dr. Luther Brooks, an African American physician working at an urban county hospital whose professional and personal ethics are tested to the limit when confronted by the blind idiocy of racism as embodied by Richard Widmark’s hateful character, Ray Biddle – a petty thief and robber. No Way Out was based on an original story by Hollywood scriptwriter, Lesser Samuels who co-wrote the screenplay with Mankiewicz. The initial thematic impetus shifted from the cancerous effects of hatred to the plight of African American doctors due to what Samuels learned from colleagues of his daughter’s fiancé, a doctor. Originally, Poitier auditioned for the lead role as a mere acting exercise, but Mankiewicz, who was also his manager at the time, convinced Poitier to take the role. Like all of Poitier’s characters, Luther is a complete antithesis of black buffoonery exhibited in previous American cinema. He is intelligent, educated, tame as well as non-impulsive. Luther symbolizes the quintessence of black middles class success, values, and virtues.
Released March 24, 1971, Brother John was written by acclaimed television screenwriter Ernest Kinoy (The Defenders, Dr. Kildare, Roots), directed by James Goldstone, and co-starred Will Geer Beverly Todd, Bradford Dillman, and Paul Winfield. Poitier plays John Kane, an enigmatic character who returns to his small Alabama hometown whenever one of his family members dies – in this instance, his sister, Sarah. A heavenly emissary, John’s messianic nature is only known to him and town physician Doc Henry (Will Geer). John’s sojourns have taken him all over the world, in which he has witnessed much death, destruction, salvation, cruelty, and war. In one scene, Doc Henry asks John if he saw any love or hope in his travels. He responds that hope and love might not be enough to save the world. Outwardly calm in demeanor, John’s aura is intense and unsettling. His arrival seems to forecasts the foreboding state of not just his hometown but the world at large and the inception of the end times. A pivotal role for Poitier, the notion of a black man as the embodiment of the Messiah returning to earth to purge hatred and prejudice, makes Brother John phenomenal and ground-breaking. No Way Out and Brother John are films that address the human condition via social issues with race at the core. Never overtly militant and anti-establishment, Poitier exudes a strong black male screen image in both films.
Uptown Saturday Night (1974) marked Poitier’s third directorial effort and first acting collaboration with comedian Bill Cosby. A comedy film was written by African American playwright/screenwriter Richard Wesley, Poitier, and Cosby play two ordinary “Joes” (Steve Jackson and Wardell Franklin) who get entangled in underworld chaos while in search of a stolen fifty grand lottery ticket. The ensemble cast included Harry Belafonte, Flip Wilson, Richard Pryor, Rosalind Cash, and Roscoe Lee Browne. A drastic departure from his more stately roles, Poitier exhibits his ability to play a rambunctious, easy-going unguarded character. In all three movies, Poitier brings the plight of his characters to the forefront. He is himself in his roles, nothing more.
Sir Sidney Poitier’s work has left an indelible impression on the film industry. A pioneer and maverick in his own right, Poitier consciously defied racial stereotyping and helped bring dramatic integrity and institutionalization to the Black cinema. Although race and integration were integral components of his fame, it was Poitier’s talent in essence that catapulted him to superstardom.
Bibliography
Boggs, Joseph M. The Art of Watching Movies. McGraw Hill-College, 2006.
Canby, Vincent. “Critic’s Notebook; Black Films: Imitation of Life?” New York Times, 1991.
Keyser, Lester J., and Ruszkowski, Andrew H. The Cinema of Sydney Poitier: The Black Man’s Changing Role on the American Screen. A.S. Barnes, 1985.
Poitier, Sydney. The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography. Harper San Francisco, 2000.
Poitier, Sydney. American Film. 1991. Web.