Who was Sidney Poitier? His life in data

(CNN) –– These are the main facts of the life of Sidney Poitier, award-winning actor and civil rights activist.

Personal

Date of birth: February 20, 1927

Place of birth: Miami Florida

Birth name: Sidney Poitier

Dad: Reginald Poitier, tomato grower

Mother: Evelyn (Outten) Poitier

Marriages: Joanna Shimkus (January 23, 1976-until her death); Juanita Marie Hardy (from April 29, 1950 to July 9, 1965, divorce)

Children: with Joanna Shimkus: Sydney and Anika; with Juanita Marie Hardy: Gina, Sherri, Pamela and Beverly

Other data

Nominated for two Academy Awardswon one of them. She also received an honorary Oscar award.

Nominated for two Grammy awardswon one of them.

Nominated for two emmy awards.

Sidney Poitier grew up on Cat Island in the Bahamas. The family later moved to Nassau, but his parents sent him to live with relatives in Miami at age 14. After an encounter with the Ku Klux Klan, he left Miami at age 16 and moved to New York.

After lying about his age, he joined the Army at 16. He pretended he was suffering from insanity in order to get discharged after nine months, then admitted to cheating in his book The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography.

A heavy Bahamian accent and limited reading ability cost him an acting job at the American Negro Theater in Harlem. He overcame his accent by imitating radio announcers and improved his reading skills by studying newspapers.

He had dual citizenship in the United States and the Bahamas.

Chronology

1946 –– The first audition after neutralizing his accent leads him to win the role of understudy for Harry Belafonte in Days of Our Youth.

1950 –– Film debut in No way out.

1959 –– First black American to receive an Oscar nomination for best actor for The Defiant Ones.

August 28, 1963 –– Was one of many Hollywood celebrities who attended the March on Washington.

1964 –– Wins the Academy Award for Best Actor for Lilies of the Field. He is the first black American to win this accolade and the second to win an Oscar. Hattie McDaniel was the first to win the Best Supporting Actress award for Gone With the Wind.

1967 –– He starred in three of the highest grossing films of the year, In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner Y To Sir, with Love.

August 14, 1967 –– Keynote speaker at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta.

1980 –– His autobiography is published This Life.

1983 –– 19-year-old David Hampton pretends to be Poitier’s son and convinces wealthy New Yorkers to provide him with food, clothing, money and a place to stay. Hampton is charged with grand larceny when his lies are discovered. “Six Degrees of Separation”, a play in 1990 and a movie in 1993, is based on this story.

1995 –– Receives honors from the Kennedy Center.

1997-2007 –– Serves as Ambassador of the Bahamas to Japan.

2000 –– He publishes his second autobiography, The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography

February 21, 2001 –– Win the grammy award for the best album spoken by The Measure Of A Man.

2002 –– Receive a Honorary Academy Award “in recognition of his remarkable achievements as an artist and as a human being.”

2006 –– Receives the Marian Anderson Award in recognition of his humanitarian and diplomatic work and the Cunard Britannia Award for a Lifetime Contribution to International Film from the British Academy of Film and Television.

2008 –– Publish Life Beyond Measure: Letters to My Great-Granddaughter.

July 30, 2009 –– The President Barack Obama grants you the Presidential Medal of the Freedom.

May 7, 2013 –– His science fiction book, Montaro Caine.

February 14, 2016 –– Poitier receives scholarship from the British Academy of Motion Picture and Television Artshis highest honor.

January 25, 2021 –– Arizona State University Announces It Has Changed The Name Of Its Film School To The Sidney Poitier New American Film School in honor of Poitier’s legacy.