10 Essential Sidney Poitier Movies, From ‘Blackboard Jungle’ to ‘To Sir, With Love’ (Photos)
“No Way Outâ€. (1950)
In his big-screen debut, Sidney Poitier makes a memorable impression as a pioneering African American physician who runs afoul of a racist thug (Richard Widmark) whose brother died in his care.
“Blackboard Jungleâ€. (1955)Â
In this melodrama, the first Hollywood feature to include rock songs, Glenn Ford plays a new teacher at a troubled inner-city school where Poitier is music-loving rebel.
“The Defiant Onesâ€. (1958)
Poitier starred opposite Tony Curtis in Stanley Kramer’s Oscar-winning drama about two escaped convicts who — since they are still chained together — reluctantly agree to cooperate despite their differences.
“A Raisin in the Sunâ€. (1961)
Reunited with much of the cast of the 1960 Broadway production of Lorraine Hansberry’s play, Poitier plays the ambitious young Chicago man squabbling with his family over how best to spend their late father’s insurance money.
“Lilies of the Fieldâ€. (1963)
Poitier plays a former G.I. who agrees to...
In his big-screen debut, Sidney Poitier makes a memorable impression as a pioneering African American physician who runs afoul of a racist thug (Richard Widmark) whose brother died in his care.
“Blackboard Jungleâ€. (1955)Â
In this melodrama, the first Hollywood feature to include rock songs, Glenn Ford plays a new teacher at a troubled inner-city school where Poitier is music-loving rebel.
“The Defiant Onesâ€. (1958)
Poitier starred opposite Tony Curtis in Stanley Kramer’s Oscar-winning drama about two escaped convicts who — since they are still chained together — reluctantly agree to cooperate despite their differences.
“A Raisin in the Sunâ€. (1961)
Reunited with much of the cast of the 1960 Broadway production of Lorraine Hansberry’s play, Poitier plays the ambitious young Chicago man squabbling with his family over how best to spend their late father’s insurance money.
“Lilies of the Fieldâ€. (1963)
Poitier plays a former G.I. who agrees to...
- 2/20/2019
- by Thom Geier
- The Wrap
Ossie Davis’ children are inspiring a new wave of activists through their father’s legacy.
The film, television and Broadway actor, director, poet, playwright and civil rights activist who died in 2005 at the age of 87, would have celebrated his 100th birthday on Monday (Dec. 18). In honor of the centennial milestone, Nora Davis Day, Guy Davis and Dr. Hasna Muhammad Davis (the three children of Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee) are highlighting their father’s “contributions to the struggle.”
“We know that if Dad and Mom were around now, they would want to be a part of this discourse around civil rights. This renewed activism, the challenging of the status quo, and augmenting the voices that are truly marginalized,” Hasna told Et during a phone interview on Friday. “Since he’s not here, we do have this opportunity to include his and Mom's voices, so that we can help attribute and provide historical context, and encourage the vehicle...
The film, television and Broadway actor, director, poet, playwright and civil rights activist who died in 2005 at the age of 87, would have celebrated his 100th birthday on Monday (Dec. 18). In honor of the centennial milestone, Nora Davis Day, Guy Davis and Dr. Hasna Muhammad Davis (the three children of Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee) are highlighting their father’s “contributions to the struggle.”
“We know that if Dad and Mom were around now, they would want to be a part of this discourse around civil rights. This renewed activism, the challenging of the status quo, and augmenting the voices that are truly marginalized,” Hasna told Et during a phone interview on Friday. “Since he’s not here, we do have this opportunity to include his and Mom's voices, so that we can help attribute and provide historical context, and encourage the vehicle...
- 12/18/2017
- Entertainment Tonight
Robb Sheppard Oct 13, 2017
The Hot Shots! movies were the peak of spoof cinema in the 1990s. We take a look back...
Spoof. Say it aloud. Feels like a dirty word doesn’t it?
Aside from even sounding slightly smutty, the spoof movie genre has, of late, been sullied by (five!) Scary Movies, Meet The Spartans and - oh, the irony - Disaster Movie. Transitory, devoid of wit and with the lowest common denominator in their crosshairs, these movies aimed for the tittering teenager, the cheap thrill-seeker and the perpetually stoned.
Perhaps the above seems like a sweeping generalisation, but it’s with good cause. Where these movies and even the term spoof itself have since been eschewed, there remains a series of films which occupy a place of fondness in the heart of - including yours truly, obvs - many a film fan: the Zaz movies.
The writing, directing and producing partnership of David Zucker,...
The Hot Shots! movies were the peak of spoof cinema in the 1990s. We take a look back...
Spoof. Say it aloud. Feels like a dirty word doesn’t it?
Aside from even sounding slightly smutty, the spoof movie genre has, of late, been sullied by (five!) Scary Movies, Meet The Spartans and - oh, the irony - Disaster Movie. Transitory, devoid of wit and with the lowest common denominator in their crosshairs, these movies aimed for the tittering teenager, the cheap thrill-seeker and the perpetually stoned.
Perhaps the above seems like a sweeping generalisation, but it’s with good cause. Where these movies and even the term spoof itself have since been eschewed, there remains a series of films which occupy a place of fondness in the heart of - including yours truly, obvs - many a film fan: the Zaz movies.
The writing, directing and producing partnership of David Zucker,...
- 10/10/2017
- Den of Geek
Gay Talese on James Baldwin: "Baldwin had his words and his voice in the forefront of the change in American politics."
In the 1960s, Gay Talese developed a friendship with James Baldwin when they were regular contributors to Esquire magazine along with Norman Mailer, Tom Wolfe, Gore Vidal, William F Buckley Jr, and others and he stayed in touch with Baldwin until his death in 1987. In Raoul Peck's I Am Not Your Negro, James Baldwin's writing is voiced by Samuel L Jackson over clips from movies that include an Indian-shooting John Wayne in John Ford's Stagecoach, Harry Beaumont's Dance, Fools, Dance with a tap dancing Joan Crawford, Sydney Poitier and Rod Steiger's goodbye in Norman Jewison's In The Heat Of The Night, and Richard Widmark's breakdown in Joseph L Mankiewicz's No Way Out.
Anne-Katrin Titze captures High Notes author Gay Talese Photo:...
In the 1960s, Gay Talese developed a friendship with James Baldwin when they were regular contributors to Esquire magazine along with Norman Mailer, Tom Wolfe, Gore Vidal, William F Buckley Jr, and others and he stayed in touch with Baldwin until his death in 1987. In Raoul Peck's I Am Not Your Negro, James Baldwin's writing is voiced by Samuel L Jackson over clips from movies that include an Indian-shooting John Wayne in John Ford's Stagecoach, Harry Beaumont's Dance, Fools, Dance with a tap dancing Joan Crawford, Sydney Poitier and Rod Steiger's goodbye in Norman Jewison's In The Heat Of The Night, and Richard Widmark's breakdown in Joseph L Mankiewicz's No Way Out.
Anne-Katrin Titze captures High Notes author Gay Talese Photo:...
- 2/22/2017
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
In the 1960s, Gay Talese developed a friendship with James Baldwin when they were regular contributors to Esquire magazine along with Norman Mailer, Tom Wolfe, Gore Vidal, William F Buckley Jr, and others and he stayed in touch with Baldwin until his death in 1987. In Raoul Peck's I Am Not Your Negro, James Baldwin's writing is voiced by Samuel L Jackson over clips from movies that include an Indian-shooting John Wayne in John Ford's Stagecoach, Harry Beaumont's Dance, Fools, Dance with a tap dancing Joan Crawford, Sydney Poitier and Rod Steiger's goodbye in Norman Jewison's In The Heat Of The Night, and Richard Widmark's breakdown in Joseph L Mankiewicz's No Way Out.
Gay Talese notes that one of the New Yorker's great achievements was when editor William Shawn published James Baldwin's Letter From A Region In My Mind. Truman Capote's In Cold.
Gay Talese notes that one of the New Yorker's great achievements was when editor William Shawn published James Baldwin's Letter From A Region In My Mind. Truman Capote's In Cold.
- 2/22/2017
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of film and TV critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday. (The answer to the second, “What is the best film in theaters right now?”, can be found at the end of this post.)
This week’s question: This past Friday saw the release of Raoul Peck’s “I Am Not Your Negro,” a documentary that speaks to our present moment through the writings and actions of the late James Baldwin. What other documentaries — recent or not — might help people better understand and / or respond to the state of the world today?
Richard Brody (@tnyfrontrow), The New Yorker
“The state of the world today” is too big a matter for any one documentary, because there’s no one state of things, there’s an overwhelming diversity of experiences — and the history of movies is as much the history of the ones that it doesn’t show.
This week’s question: This past Friday saw the release of Raoul Peck’s “I Am Not Your Negro,” a documentary that speaks to our present moment through the writings and actions of the late James Baldwin. What other documentaries — recent or not — might help people better understand and / or respond to the state of the world today?
Richard Brody (@tnyfrontrow), The New Yorker
“The state of the world today” is too big a matter for any one documentary, because there’s no one state of things, there’s an overwhelming diversity of experiences — and the history of movies is as much the history of the ones that it doesn’t show.
- 2/6/2017
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
On this day in history, April 9, 1898, Paul Robeson was born in Princeton, NJ. He would've been 118 years old this year were he still alive (he died in 1976). Sidney Poitier gets much of the ink, so to speak, and rightfully so, but Robeson laid the groundwork, coming more than 2 decades before Poitier starred in his first feature film ("No Way Out" in 1950). Robeson made his big screen debut appearance in a film directed by another of cinema's historical treasures, Oscar Micheaux's "Body and Soul" in 1925. In fact, Robeson's film acting career pretty much ended in the late 1940s (the fact that he was blacklisted and isolate politically by the House Un-American...
- 4/9/2016
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Since any New York cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.
Metrograph
The “Old School Kung Fu Fest” comes to the Lower East Side this weekend, offering the likes of Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, and Tsui Hark, among others.
A print of My Neighbor Totoro screens on Saturday morning.
Frederick Wiseman‘s Hospital begins a week-long run.
A restoration of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari screens this Monday.
Metrograph
The “Old School Kung Fu Fest” comes to the Lower East Side this weekend, offering the likes of Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, and Tsui Hark, among others.
A print of My Neighbor Totoro screens on Saturday morning.
Frederick Wiseman‘s Hospital begins a week-long run.
A restoration of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari screens this Monday.
- 4/8/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Hey NYC, here's an opportunity to see a selection of Sidney Poitier's film's on the big screen - especially if you've never had the pleasure. This year marks the 89th birthday (celebrated on February 20th) of a man, a legend who I'm sure needs absolutely no introduction on this website, who overcame decades of stereotypical Hollywood portrayals of black people, and would build a career that would see him become an instrumental figure in the evolution of roles for black actors on screen. From his feature-film debut in 1950 in ''No Way Out,'' starring as a doctor with a sense of justice, to the streetwise student in "The Blackboard Jungle,''...
- 4/7/2016
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Hey NYC, here's an opportunity to see a selection of Sidney Poitier's film's on the big screen - especially if you've never had the pleasure. This year marks the 89th birthday (celebrated on February 20th) of a man, a legend who I'm sure needs absolutely no introduction on this website, who overcame decades of stereotypical Hollywood portrayals of blacks, and would build a career that would see him become an instrumental figure in the evolution of roles for black actors on screen. From his feature-film debut in 1950 in ''No Way Out,'' starring as a doctor with a sense of justice, to the streetwise student in "The Blackboard Jungle,'' the...
- 3/14/2016
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Pioneering actor to receive BAFTA’s highest honour.
BAFTA is to honour Us actor Sidney Poitier with its Fellowship honour at the Ee British Academy Film Awards in London on Feb 14.
Awarded annually, the Fellowship is the highest accolade bestowed by BAFTA upon an individual in recognition of an outstanding and exceptional contribution to film, television or games.
Fellows previously honoured for their work in film include Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Sean Connery, Elizabeth Taylor, Stanley Kubrick, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier, Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave, Christopher Lee, Martin Scorsese, Alan Parker and Helen Mirren. Mike Leigh received the Fellowship at last year’s Film Awards.
Poitier said: “I am extremely honored to have been chosen to receive the Fellowship and my deep appreciation to the British Academy for the recognition.”
The pioneering actor’s award-winning career includes six BAFTA nominations, including one BAFTA win for The Defiant Ones (1958), and a British Academy Britannia Award for Lifetime...
BAFTA is to honour Us actor Sidney Poitier with its Fellowship honour at the Ee British Academy Film Awards in London on Feb 14.
Awarded annually, the Fellowship is the highest accolade bestowed by BAFTA upon an individual in recognition of an outstanding and exceptional contribution to film, television or games.
Fellows previously honoured for their work in film include Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Sean Connery, Elizabeth Taylor, Stanley Kubrick, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier, Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave, Christopher Lee, Martin Scorsese, Alan Parker and Helen Mirren. Mike Leigh received the Fellowship at last year’s Film Awards.
Poitier said: “I am extremely honored to have been chosen to receive the Fellowship and my deep appreciation to the British Academy for the recognition.”
The pioneering actor’s award-winning career includes six BAFTA nominations, including one BAFTA win for The Defiant Ones (1958), and a British Academy Britannia Award for Lifetime...
- 1/12/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Mildred Joanne Smith, who portrayed Sidney Poitier’s wife in his film debut, the 1950 drama No Way Out, and then saw her career upended when she was severely injured in a plane crash, has died. She was 94. Smith, who after her lone movie appearance became a magazine editor and a popular English teacher for a junior high school, died July 19, her family announced. In the 1940s, Smith starred in such Broadway productions as Men to the Sea, Mamba’s Daughters, Beggar’s Holiday (as the love interest of Alfred Drake), Forward the Heart and A Long Way From Home. All
read more...
read more...
- 7/25/2015
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Bahamas International Film Festival (Biff) has announced that Academy Award® winner and renowned global icon Sir Sidney Poitier has agreed to the naming of the prestigious Career Achievement Award at the Bahamas International Film Festival the “Sir Sidney Poitier Tribute Award.” Biff founder and executive director Leslie Vanderpool made the announcement.
“There is no person on Earth who is better suited to have the Career Achievement Award be named after him,” Vanderpool said. “Poitier is one of the finest actors for generations and is, simply put, an icon and a legend.” The American Film Institute named him among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time.
Poitier stretched his reach within the industry on film and on stage acting in productions such as "A Raisin in the Sun" (1959) and "Lysistrata." For his film role in "The Defiant Ones," Poitier was the first male actor of African descent to be nominated for a competitive Academy Award in 1958. A few years later in 1964, Poitier was the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor in a riveting and memorable performance as Homer Smith in Ralph Nelson’s "Lilies of The Field."
Thirty-eight years after receiving the Best Actor award, Poitier received an honorary tribute from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in recognition of his remarkable accomplishments as an artist and as a human being. In 2009, Poitier was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States of America’s highest civilian honor, by President Barack Obama.
A global legend, knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1968 and highly respected author, director and “actor’s actor,” with more than fifty films and television shows to his credit, Poitier has starred in some of Hollywood’s most important and biggest films and earned critics’ praise for several commanding performances. Poitier’s reputation solidified with leading roles in mainstream films: "No Way Out" (1950), "Blackboard Jungle" (1955), "The Bedford Incident" and "A Patch Of Blue" (1965). The most successful films that catapulted Poitier’s career in 1967 where, "To Sir with Love," "Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner" and "In the Heat of the Night."
Directing was not far away from his achievements having a directorial debut with the western "Buck and the Preacher" soon followed by "Uptown Saturday Night," "Let’s Do It Again," "A Piece Of The Action," "Stir Crazy," "Hanky Panky," "Fast Forward’ and ‘Ghost Dad."
From 1995 to 2003, Poitier served as a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company. Proud to represent The Bahamas, Sir Sidney was the Bahamian Ambassador to Japan, a position held from 2002 to 2007, while being the Ambassador of The Bahamas to Unesco.
What makes this addition so momentous is that he is a Bahamian who believes in building future generations of filmmakers while honoring the actors and actresses who broke ground, furthermore, upholding their careers with poise. Sir Sidney possesses a true love and appreciation for the people of The Bahamas.
One of the Bahamas International Film Festival’s missions is to ensure youth in The Bahamas have the opportunity to remember Sir Sidney while celebrating the achievements of others within the film industry.
“Leslie Vanderpool’s efforts have been extraordinary in making it possible for The Bahamas to have not only a film festival, but to also attract some of the great film artists and filmmakers from around the world. People like Johnny Depp, Nicolas Cage, Laurence Fishburne, Danny Glover, Alan Arkin, Sir Sean Connery, Sophie Okonedo, Lee Daniels, Lenny Kravitz and my own daughter Sydney Tamiia Poitier, who have found, to their great surprise, that the Bahamas is moving swiftly toward a bona fide motion picture community--all of which have been structured by the imaginative young Bahamians who have committed themselves to The Bahamas having a film community of its own,” Poitier said.
Adding to his many achievements, Poitier has published four best sellers "This Life," "The Measure of A Man," "Life Beyond Measure: Letters to my Great-Grand Daughter" and "Montaro Caine." Additionally, he has many talents having recorded an album with the composer Fred Katz called ‘Poitier Meets Plato’ reciting passages from Plato’s writings.
Family is most important for Sir Sidney, He and his wife Joanna Shimkus, a Canadian-born former actress of Lithuanian and Irish descent have two daughters Anika and Sydney Tamiia Poitier. Poitier has four daughters Beverly, Pamela, Sherri and Gina from a previous marriage. In addition to his six daughters, Poitier has eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Leslie Vanderpool and Sydney T. Poitier will be instrumental in overseeing the granting of the Sir Sidney Poitier Tribute Awards.
“There is no person on Earth who is better suited to have the Career Achievement Award be named after him,” Vanderpool said. “Poitier is one of the finest actors for generations and is, simply put, an icon and a legend.” The American Film Institute named him among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time.
Poitier stretched his reach within the industry on film and on stage acting in productions such as "A Raisin in the Sun" (1959) and "Lysistrata." For his film role in "The Defiant Ones," Poitier was the first male actor of African descent to be nominated for a competitive Academy Award in 1958. A few years later in 1964, Poitier was the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor in a riveting and memorable performance as Homer Smith in Ralph Nelson’s "Lilies of The Field."
Thirty-eight years after receiving the Best Actor award, Poitier received an honorary tribute from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in recognition of his remarkable accomplishments as an artist and as a human being. In 2009, Poitier was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States of America’s highest civilian honor, by President Barack Obama.
A global legend, knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1968 and highly respected author, director and “actor’s actor,” with more than fifty films and television shows to his credit, Poitier has starred in some of Hollywood’s most important and biggest films and earned critics’ praise for several commanding performances. Poitier’s reputation solidified with leading roles in mainstream films: "No Way Out" (1950), "Blackboard Jungle" (1955), "The Bedford Incident" and "A Patch Of Blue" (1965). The most successful films that catapulted Poitier’s career in 1967 where, "To Sir with Love," "Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner" and "In the Heat of the Night."
Directing was not far away from his achievements having a directorial debut with the western "Buck and the Preacher" soon followed by "Uptown Saturday Night," "Let’s Do It Again," "A Piece Of The Action," "Stir Crazy," "Hanky Panky," "Fast Forward’ and ‘Ghost Dad."
From 1995 to 2003, Poitier served as a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company. Proud to represent The Bahamas, Sir Sidney was the Bahamian Ambassador to Japan, a position held from 2002 to 2007, while being the Ambassador of The Bahamas to Unesco.
What makes this addition so momentous is that he is a Bahamian who believes in building future generations of filmmakers while honoring the actors and actresses who broke ground, furthermore, upholding their careers with poise. Sir Sidney possesses a true love and appreciation for the people of The Bahamas.
One of the Bahamas International Film Festival’s missions is to ensure youth in The Bahamas have the opportunity to remember Sir Sidney while celebrating the achievements of others within the film industry.
“Leslie Vanderpool’s efforts have been extraordinary in making it possible for The Bahamas to have not only a film festival, but to also attract some of the great film artists and filmmakers from around the world. People like Johnny Depp, Nicolas Cage, Laurence Fishburne, Danny Glover, Alan Arkin, Sir Sean Connery, Sophie Okonedo, Lee Daniels, Lenny Kravitz and my own daughter Sydney Tamiia Poitier, who have found, to their great surprise, that the Bahamas is moving swiftly toward a bona fide motion picture community--all of which have been structured by the imaginative young Bahamians who have committed themselves to The Bahamas having a film community of its own,” Poitier said.
Adding to his many achievements, Poitier has published four best sellers "This Life," "The Measure of A Man," "Life Beyond Measure: Letters to my Great-Grand Daughter" and "Montaro Caine." Additionally, he has many talents having recorded an album with the composer Fred Katz called ‘Poitier Meets Plato’ reciting passages from Plato’s writings.
Family is most important for Sir Sidney, He and his wife Joanna Shimkus, a Canadian-born former actress of Lithuanian and Irish descent have two daughters Anika and Sydney Tamiia Poitier. Poitier has four daughters Beverly, Pamela, Sherri and Gina from a previous marriage. In addition to his six daughters, Poitier has eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Leslie Vanderpool and Sydney T. Poitier will be instrumental in overseeing the granting of the Sir Sidney Poitier Tribute Awards.
- 7/12/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Above: German poster by Rolf Goetze for The Barefoot Contessa (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, USA, 1954).
Some twenty-two years ago, just a couple of months before Joseph L. Mankiewicz passed away at the age of 83, New York’s Film Forum held a retrospective of his work. The one thing I knew about Mankiewicz back then was that Andrew Sarris had consigned him to The American Cinema’s circle of hell that was “Less Than Meet the Eye.” “The cinema of Joseph L. Mankiewicz is a cinema of intelligence without inspiration” he argued. Needless to say I went rather reluctantly to see his films, but by the end of the series I was a convert to his special brand of literate, sophisticated and genuinely moving cinema.
As a sidebar to the New York Film Festival, the Film Society of Lincoln Center is hosting a new retrospective of Mankiewicz’s films that runs...
Some twenty-two years ago, just a couple of months before Joseph L. Mankiewicz passed away at the age of 83, New York’s Film Forum held a retrospective of his work. The one thing I knew about Mankiewicz back then was that Andrew Sarris had consigned him to The American Cinema’s circle of hell that was “Less Than Meet the Eye.” “The cinema of Joseph L. Mankiewicz is a cinema of intelligence without inspiration” he argued. Needless to say I went rather reluctantly to see his films, but by the end of the series I was a convert to his special brand of literate, sophisticated and genuinely moving cinema.
As a sidebar to the New York Film Festival, the Film Society of Lincoln Center is hosting a new retrospective of Mankiewicz’s films that runs...
- 10/5/2014
- by Adrian Curry
- MUBI
Ruby Dee, an acclaimed actor and civil rights activist whose versatile career spanned stage, radio, television and film, has died at age 91, according to her daughter. Nora Davis Day told the Associated Press on Thursday that her mother died at home in New Rochelle, New York, on Wednesday night. Dee, who frequently acted alongside her husband of 56 years, Ossie Davis, was surrounded by family and friends, she added. Dee's long career brought her an Oscar nomination at age 83 for best supporting actress for her role in the 2007 film American Gangster. She also won an Emmy and was nominated for several others.
- 6/12/2014
- by Associated Press
- PEOPLE.com
Ann Sothern, Linda Darnell, Jeanne Crain, A Letter to Three Wives Linda Darnell, the gorgeous leading lady of numerous 20th Century Fox productions of the '40s, is Turner Classic Movies' "Summer Under the Stars" player this Saturday, August 27. TCM, which has leased titles from the Fox library, is showing 14 Linda Darnell movies, including no less than 9 TCM premieres. [Linda Darnell Movie Schedule.] Right now, TCM is showing writer-director Joseph L. Mankiewicz's A Letter to Three Wives (1949), winner of Academy Awards for Best Direction and Best Screenplay. This curious comedy-drama about a husband who leaves his wife for another woman — but whose husband? Linda Darnell's, Jeanne Crain's, or Ann Sothern's? — also earned Mankiewicz the very first Directors Guild of America Award and a Writers Guild Award (which Mankiewicz shared with Vera Caspary) for the Best Written American Comedy. The husbands in question are Kirk Douglas, Paul Douglas, and Jeffrey Lynn.
- 8/28/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Linda Darnell Linda Darnell on TCM: A Letter To Three Wives, No Way Out Schedule (Et) and synopses from the TCM website: 6:00 Am Zero Hour! (1957) When a flight crew falls ill only man who can land the plane is afraid of flying. Dir: Hall Bartlett. Cast: Dana Andrews, Linda Darnell, Sterling Hayden. Bw-81 mins, Letterbox Format. 7:30 Am Sweet And Low Down (1944) Dir: Archie Mayo. Cast: Benny Goodman, Linda Darnell, Jack Oakie. Bw-76 mins. 9:00 Am Rise And Shine (1941) The college president head cheerleader and a gambling gangster try to keep a flunking football star in the game. Dir: Allan Dwan. Cast: Jack Oakie, George Murphy, Linda Darnell. Bw-88 mins. 10:45 Am Brigham Young (1940) Two young Mormons struggle to survive their people's journey to a new home in the West. Dir: Henry Hathaway. Cast: Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Dean Jagger. Bw-113 mins. 12:45 Pm Two Flags West (1950) A bitter...
- 8/27/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
On Monday evening, following a moving tribute at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the Film Society of Lincoln Center bestowed its 38th annual Charlie Chaplin Award for Lifetime Achievement to one of the last great male stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age — a trailblazer unlike any other — Sidney Poitier. The actor, who is now 84 and retired from acting, rarely leaves the friendly confines of Beverly Hills, but made the trip across the country to New York to personally collect this high honor. (Previous recipients include Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, Laurence Olivier, Federico Fellini, Elizabeth Taylor, Bette Davis, James Stewart, Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese, Diane Keaton, Tom Hanks, and Meryl Streep.)
Poitier, whose film career began in 1950 with a starring role in “No Way Out,” became the first black movie star by appearing in a number of critically and/or commercially acclaimed films in the 1950s and 1960s — among them...
Poitier, whose film career began in 1950 with a starring role in “No Way Out,” became the first black movie star by appearing in a number of critically and/or commercially acclaimed films in the 1950s and 1960s — among them...
- 5/7/2011
- by Scott Feinberg
- Scott Feinberg
Getty Sidney Poitier
At last night’s Film Society of Lincoln Center gala, numerous celebrities were on hand to celebrate Sidney Poitier, the 38th annual Charlie Chaplin award recipient. Poitier was the first black person to win an Oscar for best actor, for his role in the 1963 movie “Lilies of the Field.”
Poitier garnered leading roles in films at a time when black actors were usually relegated to submissive or demeaning parts. During the presentation, presenter Quentin Tarantino recounted the...
At last night’s Film Society of Lincoln Center gala, numerous celebrities were on hand to celebrate Sidney Poitier, the 38th annual Charlie Chaplin award recipient. Poitier was the first black person to win an Oscar for best actor, for his role in the 1963 movie “Lilies of the Field.”
Poitier garnered leading roles in films at a time when black actors were usually relegated to submissive or demeaning parts. During the presentation, presenter Quentin Tarantino recounted the...
- 5/3/2011
- by Julie Steinberg
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
Filed under: Columns, Cinematical
As Sidney Poitier turns 84 this week, we look back on the role that defined him at the height of his onscreen powers, and at the movie that nabbed a slew of Oscars (though, oddly, not even a nomination for Poitier himself).
'In the Heat of the Night' (1967) certainly wasn't Poitier's first film tackling American race relations - that was 1950's 'No Way Out,' directed by Joseph Mankiewicz, in which the Bahamian-American actor played a prison doctor dealing with a viciously bigoted convict (Richard Widmark). Since Poitier was the leading black Hollywood actor during a time of budding social awareness and civil rights unrest, it was inevitable that many of his movies during that roughly 20-year era had racial subplots even when race wasn't a primary theme.
Though obviously limited by his circumstances, he bore this responsibility well, delivering many strong performances and indelible characters.
As Sidney Poitier turns 84 this week, we look back on the role that defined him at the height of his onscreen powers, and at the movie that nabbed a slew of Oscars (though, oddly, not even a nomination for Poitier himself).
'In the Heat of the Night' (1967) certainly wasn't Poitier's first film tackling American race relations - that was 1950's 'No Way Out,' directed by Joseph Mankiewicz, in which the Bahamian-American actor played a prison doctor dealing with a viciously bigoted convict (Richard Widmark). Since Poitier was the leading black Hollywood actor during a time of budding social awareness and civil rights unrest, it was inevitable that many of his movies during that roughly 20-year era had racial subplots even when race wasn't a primary theme.
Though obviously limited by his circumstances, he bore this responsibility well, delivering many strong performances and indelible characters.
- 2/23/2011
- by Marina Zogbi
- Moviefone
Filed under: Columns, Cinematical
As Sidney Poitier turns 84 this week, we look back on the role that defined him at the height of his onscreen powers, and at the movie that nabbed a slew of Oscars (though, oddly, not even a nomination for Poitier himself).
'In the Heat of the Night' (1967) certainly wasn't Poitier's first film tackling American race relations - that was 1950's 'No Way Out,' directed by Joseph Mankiewicz, in which the Bahamian-American actor played a prison doctor dealing with a viciously bigoted convict (Richard Widmark). Since Poitier was the leading black Hollywood actor during a time of budding social awareness and civil rights unrest, it was inevitable that many of his movies during that roughly 20-year era had racial subplots even when race wasn't a primary theme.
Though obviously limited by his circumstances, he bore this responsibility well, delivering many strong performances and indelible characters.
As Sidney Poitier turns 84 this week, we look back on the role that defined him at the height of his onscreen powers, and at the movie that nabbed a slew of Oscars (though, oddly, not even a nomination for Poitier himself).
'In the Heat of the Night' (1967) certainly wasn't Poitier's first film tackling American race relations - that was 1950's 'No Way Out,' directed by Joseph Mankiewicz, in which the Bahamian-American actor played a prison doctor dealing with a viciously bigoted convict (Richard Widmark). Since Poitier was the leading black Hollywood actor during a time of budding social awareness and civil rights unrest, it was inevitable that many of his movies during that roughly 20-year era had racial subplots even when race wasn't a primary theme.
Though obviously limited by his circumstances, he bore this responsibility well, delivering many strong performances and indelible characters.
- 2/23/2011
- by Marina Zogbi
- Cinematical
Acclaimed actress Ruby Dee will be appearing at the A.M.P.A.S. New York screening of No Way Out on September 21. The film was groundbreaking in its depiction of racism on the big screen. The plot pits young doctor Sidney Poitier against vicious thug Richard Widmark, who is not only a bigot but a killer as well. Film historian Foster Hirsch will moderate the discussion with Ms. Dee. Tickets are $5 and are expected to sell out quickly. To order go to www.oscars.org...
- 9/9/2009
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Article Templatehttp://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1119669402http://www.brightcove.com/channel.jsp?channel=769341148Updated 11:43 a.m. Pt March 26
Richard Widmark, who won a best supporting actor Oscar nomination for his first movie role in the 1947 gangster film "Kiss of Death," has died. He was 93.
Widmark's wife, Susan Blanchard, said the actor died Monday at his home in Roxbury, Conn. She would not provide details of his illness and said funeral arrangements are private.
Widmark, who often played heavies, received his Oscar nomination for his portrayal of a laughing psychopathic murderer who pushed a crippled old woman down a flight of stairs. Usually associated with villainous roles, he played another heavy in the film noir "Road House" the following year. Yet he made his mark as the cynical hero of Samuel Fuller's "Pickup on South Street" in 1953. His gritty persona also suited him well for Westerns, playing...
Richard Widmark, who won a best supporting actor Oscar nomination for his first movie role in the 1947 gangster film "Kiss of Death," has died. He was 93.
Widmark's wife, Susan Blanchard, said the actor died Monday at his home in Roxbury, Conn. She would not provide details of his illness and said funeral arrangements are private.
Widmark, who often played heavies, received his Oscar nomination for his portrayal of a laughing psychopathic murderer who pushed a crippled old woman down a flight of stairs. Usually associated with villainous roles, he played another heavy in the film noir "Road House" the following year. Yet he made his mark as the cynical hero of Samuel Fuller's "Pickup on South Street" in 1953. His gritty persona also suited him well for Westerns, playing...
- 3/26/2008
- by By Duane Byrge
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Richard Widmark, the actor whose menacing portrayals in numerous film noir thrillers made him synonymous with the genre, died Monday at age 93. According to news reports, the actor passed away at his home in Roxbury, CT after a long illness. Widmark appeared on both radio and the stage before making one of the most auspicious -- and audacious -- debuts in film history as the giggling killer Tommy Udo, a man who pushes an old lady in a wheelchair down a flight of stairs, in the 1947 thriller Kiss of Death; the film earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, a Golden Globe for New Star Of The Year, and a contract with 20th Century Fox. His portrayals of hard-boiled men, sometimes criminals, sometimes just plain amoral, made him an instant star, and he played villains in The Street with No Name, Road House, and Yellow Sky. He notoriously menaced Marilyn Monroe in Don't Bother to Knock, played a racist criminal in No Way Out, and was a pickpocket caught up in a Communist spy ring in Pickup on South Street. Widmark proved he could also play against type as a doctor tracking down a killer infected with the bubonic plague in Panic in the Streets, and a doomed con man in Jules Dassin's Night and the City. The actor worked consistently throughout his career, adding Westerns to his repertoire with roles in Broken Lance, The Alamo, Cheyenne Autumn (directed by John Ford), and How the West Was Won, and appeared in the Oscar-winning Judgment at Nuremberg as well. He segued into television in the 1970s as Madigan (based on his 1968 film of the same name, directed by Don Siegel), and received an Emmy nomination for 1972's Vanished, where he played the President of the United States with a secret to hide. Other notable films during the 1970s and 1980s included Murder on the Orient Express, The Domino Principle, Coma, and the film noir update Against All Odds; his last role was in the 1991 political drama True Colors, after which he retired from filmmaking. Widmark is survived by his second wife, Susan Blanchard, and his daughter, Anne, from his first marriage to screenwriter Jean Hazlewood, who died in 1997. --Mark Englehart, IMDb staff...
- 3/26/2008
- IMDb News
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