Rod Steiger
From the film trailer for The Unholy Wife (1957)
Born	Rodney Stephen Steiger (1925-04-14)April 14, 1925 Westhampton, New York, U.S.
Died	July 9, 2002(2002-07-09) (aged 77) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1950–2002
Spouse	Sally Gracie (1952–58) Claire Bloom (1959–69) Sherry Nelson (1973–79) Paula Ellis (1986–97) Joan Benedict (2000–02)
Children	Anna Steiger Michael Steiger

Rodney Stephen "Rod" Steiger (April 14, 1925 – July 9, 2002) was an Academy Award-winning American actor known for his performances in such films as On the Waterfront, The Big Knife, Oklahoma!, The Harder They Fall, Across the Bridge, The Pawnbroker, Doctor Zhivago, In the Heat of the Night, and Waterloo as well as the television programs Marty and Jesus of Nazareth.

Early life[link]

Steiger was born in Westhampton, New York, the son of Lorraine (née Driver) and Frederick Steiger,^[1][2] of French, Scottish, and German descent.^[3][4] Steiger was raised as a Lutheran.^[3][5] He never knew his father, a vaudevillian who had been part of a traveling song-and-dance team with Steiger's mother (who subsequently left show business).^[4] Steiger grew up with his alcoholic mother before running away from home at age sixteen to join the United States Navy during World War II, where he saw action on destroyers in the Pacific.^[6]

Career[link]

Steiger appeared in over 100 motion pictures. He began his acting career in theatre and on live television in the early 1950s. On May 24, 1953, an episode of Goodyear Television Playhouse jump-started his career. The episode was the story of Marty written by Paddy Chayefsky. Marty is the story of a lonely homely butcher from the Bronx in search of love. Refusing to sign a seven-year studio contract, Steiger later turned down the role in the film version in 1955. Signing a studio contract at that time would "pigeon-hole" Steiger as to the roles he would later play and image portrayed on screen; those were two things Steiger objected to throughout his career. The role of Marty was turned over to Ernest Borgnine. Borgnine would receive the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Rod Steiger never regretted his decision to turn down the film role of Marty.

He won the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Chief of Police Bill Gillespie in In the Heat of the Night (1967) opposite Sidney Poitier. He was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for On the Waterfront (1954), in which he played Marlon Brando's character's brother. He was nominated again, this time for Best Actor, for the gritty The Pawnbroker (1965), a Sidney Lumet film in which Steiger portrays an emotionally withdrawn Holocaust survivor living in New York City.

He played Jud Fry in the film version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma!, in which he did his own singing. One of his favorite roles was as Komarovsky in Doctor Zhivago (1965). Steiger, the only American in the cast of that film, was initially apprehensive about working with such great British actors as Ralph Richardson and Alec Guinness and was afraid that he would stick out, but he won acclaim for his performance. He also befriended fellow actor Tom Courtenay on this film;^[7] the two remained friends until Steiger's death.

He also appeared in The Big Knife as an overly aggressive film studio boss who berates film star Jack Palance; as Al Capone in Al Capone (1959); as Mr. Joyboy in The Loved One; as the serial killer in No Way to Treat a Lady; and as a repressed gay NCO in The Sergeant (1968); as Rabbi Saunders in The Chosen (1981).

Steiger in 1978

He also played well-known figures such as Napoleon Bonaparte in Waterloo (1970); Benito Mussolini in The Last Four Days (1974) and again in Lion of the Desert (1981); W. C. Fields in W. C. Fields and Me (1976); Pontius Pilate in Franco Zeffirelli's TV miniseries Jesus of Nazareth (1977); and mob boss Sam Giancana in the TV miniseries, Sinatra (1992). He appeared in several Italian films, including Hands Over the City (1963) and Lucky Luciano (1974) (both Francesco Rosi's), and also Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dynamite (1971). In France, he starred in Claude Chabrol's Innocents with Dirty Hands opposite Romy Schneider.

In his later years he appeared in The Amityville Horror (1979); The Specialist (1994), and Mars Attacks!. On television, he appeared in the miniseries Jackie Collins' Hollywood Wives (1985), Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City (1993), and a 1995 Columbo television film. Among his final roles was the judge in the prison drama, The Hurricane (1999). The film reunited him with director Norman Jewison, who had directed him in In the Heat of the Night. His last film was A Month of Sundays.

Steiger also starred in the film version of Kurt Vonnegut's play Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1971). In 1969, he appeared in the film adaptation of Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man with his then-wife, Claire Bloom. He was offered the title role in Patton, but turned it down because he did not want to glorify war.^[8] The role was then given to George C. Scott, who won a Best Actor Oscar. Steiger called this refusal his "dumbest career move".

Steiger has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 7080 Hollywood Boulevard which was unveiled 1 April 1997.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life[link]

Steiger was married five times: actress Sally Gracie (1952–1958),^[9] actress Claire Bloom (1959–1969),^[9] Sherry Nelson (1973–1979),^[9] Paula Ellis (1986–1997) ^[9] and actress Joan Benedict Steiger (married 2000 until his death).^[9]

He had a daughter, opera singer Anna Steiger (born in 1960) by Bloom, and a son, Michael Steiger (born in 1993), from his marriage to Ellis.^[9]

Death[link]

Steiger died in Los Angeles on July 9, 2002, aged 77, from pneumonia and complications from surgery for a gall bladder tumor.^[9] He is buried in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery.

The film Saving Shiloh, released in 2006, was dedicated to his memory.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rod Steiger

• Rod Steiger at the Internet Movie Database
• Rod Steiger at the Internet Broadway Database
• He Blowed Up Real Good (TCM Movie Morlocks on Rod Steiger in Hennessy)
• Rod Steiger on BBC Radio Desert Island Discs

Alan Walbridge Ladd (September 3, 1913 – January 29, 1964) was an American film actor.^[1]

Early life[link]

Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was the only child of Ina Raleigh Ladd and Alan Ladd, Sr. He was of English ancestry. His father died when he was four, and his mother relocated to Oklahoma City where she married Jim Beavers, a housepainter. The family then moved again to North Hollywood, California where Ladd became a high-school swimming and diving champion and participated in high school dramatics at North Hollywood High School, graduating on February 1, 1934. He opened his own hamburger and malt shop, which he called Tiny's Patio. He worked briefly as a studio carpenter (as did his stepfather) and for a short time was part of the Universal Pictures studio school for actors. But Universal decided he was too blond and too short and dropped him.^[2] Intent on acting, he found work in radio.

Career[link]

Ladd began by appearing in dozens of films in small roles, including Citizen Kane in which he played one of the "faceless" reporters who are always shown in silhouette. He first gained some recognition with a featured role in the wartime thriller Joan of Paris, 1942.^[3] For his next role, his manager, Sue Carol, found a vehicle which made Ladd's career, Graham Greene's This Gun for Hire in which he played "Raven," a hitman with a conscience. "Once Ladd had acquired an unsmiling hardness, he was transformed from an extra to a phenomenon. Ladd's calm slender ferocity make it clear that he was the first American actor to show the killer as a cold angel." - David Thomson (A Biographical Dictionary of Film, 1975) ^[4]

Both the film and Ladd's performance played an important role in the development of the "gangster" genre: "That the old fashioned motion picture gangster with his ugly face, gaudy cars, and flashy clothes was replaced by a smoother, better looking, and better dressed bad man was largely the work of Mr. Ladd." - New York Times obituary (January 30, 1964).^[4] Ladd was teamed with actress Veronica Lake in this film, and despite the fact that it was Robert Preston who played the romantic lead, the Ladd-Lake pairing captured the public's imagination, and would continue in another three films. (They appeared in a total of seven films together, but three were only guest shots in all-star musical revues.)

Ladd went on to star in many Paramount Pictures' films,^[5] with a brief timeout for military service in the United States Army Air Force's First Motion Picture Unit. He appeared in Dashiell Hammett's story The Glass Key, his second pairing with Lake, and Lucky Jordan with Helen Walker. His cool, unsmiling persona proved popular with wartime audiences, and he was quickly established as one of the top box office stars of the decade.^[6]

In 1946, he starred in a trio of silver screen classics: the big screen adaptation of Richard Henry Dana's maritime classic, Two Years Before the Mast (for which he also received critical acclaim), the Raymond Chandler original mystery The Blue Dahlia (his third pairing with Lake), and the World War II espionage thriller O.S.S..

He formed his own production companies for film and radio and then starred in his own syndicated series Box 13, which ran from 1948-49. Ladd and Robert Preston starred in the 1948 western film, Whispering Smith, which in 1961 would become a short-lived NBC television series, starring Audie Murphy.

In the 1949 version of The Great Gatsby, Ladd had the featured role of Jay Gatsby.

Jean Arthur and Alan Ladd in Shane (1953)

Ladd played the title role in the 1953 western Shane. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It was listed at No. 45 on the American Film Institute's 2007 ranking of "100 Years ... 100 Movies."

Ladd made the Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll three times: in 1947, 1953, and 1954.^[2] In 1954 exhibitors voted him the most popular star among British film-goers.^[7]

When former agent Albert R. Broccoli formed Warwick Films with his partner Irving Allen, they heard Ladd was unhappy with Paramount and was leaving the studio. With his wife and agent Sue Carol, they negotiated for Ladd to appear in the first three of their films made in England and released through Columbia Pictures: The Red Beret/Paratrooper (1953); Hell Below Zero (1954), based on Hammond Innes's book The White South; and The Black Knight (1954). All three were co-written by Ladd's regular screenwriter Richard Maibaum.^[8] In 1954 Ladd formed a new production company, Jaguar Productions, originally releasing his films through Warner Bros. and then with All the Young Men through Columbia.

In November 1962, he was found lying unconscious in a pool of blood with a bullet wound near his heart, an unsuccessful suicide attempt.^[2] In 1963 Ladd filmed a supporting role in The Carpetbaggers. He would not live to see its release. On January 29, 1964 he was found dead in Palm Springs, California, of an acute overdose of "alcohol and three other drugs", at the age of 50; his death was ruled accidental.^[9] He was entombed in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Not until June 28, 1964 did Carpetbaggers producer Joseph E. Levine hold an elaborate premiere screening in New York City with an afterparty staged by his wife at The Four Seasons Restaurant.^[10]

Alan Ladd has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1601 Vine Street.^[11] His handprint appears in the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theater, in Hollywood.

Personal life[link]

Alan Ladd's mother was Selina Rowley, born Chester-le-Street County Durham, in late 1888. She used the stage name Ina Raleigh and emigrated to the USA in 1907, aged 19.

He had married a high-school acquaintance, Midge Harrold. Their only child, a son named Alan Ladd, Jr., was born in 1937. Ladd's stepfather died suddenly. Then his mother, who suffered from depression, committed suicide by poison.

In 1942, Ladd married his agent/manager, former movie actress Sue Carol.

Ladd owned properties in Beverly Hills and, in Palm Springs, Alan Ladd Hardware. His son by his first wife Midge Harrold, Alan Ladd, Jr., is a motion picture executive and producer and founder of The Ladd Company. His daughter actress Alana, who co-starred with her father in Guns of the Timberland and Duel of Champions, is married to the veteran talk radio broadcaster Michael Jackson. Another son, actor David Ladd, who co-starred with Ladd as a child in The Proud Rebel, married Charlie's Angels star Cheryl Ladd, 1973-1980. Actress Jordan Ladd is his granddaughter.^[12]

As with many Hollywood stars, Ladd is sometimes described as either a social adherent to, or member of, the gay subculture.^[13] No reliable evidence has been published to substantiate such claims, but they do exist. At least one gay historian has gone so far with speculation as to suggest that Ladd's suicide attempt(s) may have been related to unsubstantiated sexual questioning.^[14]

Reports of his height vary from 5'5" to 5'9" (from his military records) (1.65 to 1.75 m), with 5'6" (1.68 m) being the most generally accepted today.^[2][15]

Filmography[link]

Features[link]

Short subjects[link]

• Unfinished Rainbows (1940)
• Meat and Romance (1940)
• Blame It on Love (1940)
• American Portrait (1940)
• I Look at You (1941)
• Training Film No. A-3: Military Training (1941)
• Letter from a Friend (1943)
• Screen Snapshots: Hollywood in Uniform (1943)
• Skirmish on the Home Front (1944)
• Hollywood Victory Caravan (1945)
• Screen Snapshots: The Skolsky Party (1946)
• Eyes of Hollywood (1949)
• Grantland Rice Sportlight No. R11-10: A Sporting Oasis (1952)

Box Office Ranking[link]

For a number of years, film exhibitors voted him among the top stars at the box office.

• 1946 - 8th (Britain)^[16]
• 1947 - 7th (Britain)^[17]
• 1949 - 7th (Britain)^[18]
• 1951 - 17th (USA),^[19] 8th (Britain)^[20]
• 1952 - 16th (USA)^[21]
• 1953 - 4th (USA)^[22]
• 1954 - 6th (USA)^[23], 1st (Britain)^[24]
• 1955 - 17th (USA)^[25]
• 1956 - 25th (USA)^[26]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Alan Ladd at the Internet Movie Database
• Alan Ladd at the TCM Movie Database
• Official website
• Alan Ladd at Virtual History

R. J. Adams
Born	(1946-09-20) September 20, 1946 (age 65) St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
Occupation	Film Actors, Acting Coach, Radio personality
Years active	1964–present
Spouse	Diane

R. J. Adams (born September 20, 1946; St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada) is a film/television actor, acting coach, documentary filmmaker and radio personality.

Beginnings[link]

Born Robert Adams, he spent his early childhood years in St. Catharines, Ontario until the family headed across the border to Niagara Falls, New York. Known to his friends as Bob Adams, the aspiring actor/radio D.J. spent just a couple of years attending Bishop Duffy High school before dropping out and moving to New York City at the age of 17 to study acting with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse. In late 1960 Adams landed a job as a page at NBC Burbank which led to a radio job in Phoenix and ultimately a twenty five year career in broadcasting as Bob Shannon. His on air career included radio stations in markets such as Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Seattle, Minneapolis/St. Paul, San Diego and Los Angeles. It was while working at KFI (AM) in the mid-1970s that Adams once again turned his attention back to film acting.

Radio career[link]

Adams began his 30 year radio career as Bob Shannon in the spring of 1964 with a weekend shift at KXIV Phoenix, Arizona until going full time, thanks to the efforts of play-by-play announcer Al McCoy who got him his first full time on-air job at KLBU Yuma, Arizona. From there it was on to KUTY Palmdale, California before making the giant leap to KDWB St. Paul, Minnesota by the end of the year. But it wasn't until Shannon arrived in Phoenix in mid June 1966 that he garnered his first major success at KRUX Phoenix, Arizona by rapidly climbing to number one in the market by beating all competitors by twenty plus points^[1] utilizing a variety of crazy characters and outlandish antics such as the invasion of his show by the television rock group, The Monkees. The episode aired as the finale of the Group's first seaon. Following his departure from Phoenix Shannon held air shifts at WKBW Buffalo, New York and WKYC Cleveland, Ohio until landing the coveted early evening slot at KXOK St. Louis, Missouri where he again rose to the number one show in the market^[2] beating his nearest rival by twenty plus ratings points

BS in the Morning[link]

Following St. Louis, Shannon joined a couple of famous call letters including KJR Seattle, Washington, WIXY Cleveland, Ohio and KDKA before returning to KDWB Mpls/St.Paul as "BS" in the morning. It was here that he gained instant popularity by a myriad of stunts such as broadcasting live from the streets of the Twin cities while distributing cans of beans during the gas shortage of the mid 1970s which he promoted as a, "Natural Gas Substitute". His name recognition eventually brought him to the attention of KFI Los Angeles in 1975 where he enjoyed several successful years doing afternoons as "BS in Drive". In 1976 Shannon with the help of his vast audience as well as the national media media,^[3][4][5][6] succeeded in persuading NOA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to adopt male hurricane names in an effort to bring equal hurricane rights to men. Up until that time hurricanes had only been ames for women. His successful campaign brought about the Hurricane David.^[7] the name of Shannon's son. From KFI, he went on to KHJ (AM) and KLAC, Los Angeles before retiring from radio in the mid 1980's to devote all his attention to Film acting.^[8]

In 2000 following a 15 year absence from radio R.J. Adams returned to airwaves once again as Bob Shannon this time joining the air staff of KRTH 101 in Los Angeles...not to be confused with a radio personality of the same name who is midday host on New York City's most popular radio station, classic-hits WCBS-FM. In 2003 he ventured into talk radio as host of “Back Stage Live”, a Film and Television call in program specifically geared toward aspiring and professional actors on "Smart Talk" KRLA. Currently in production, Adams plays a serial killing priest in a dark suspense thriller.^[9]

Film/television actor[link]

In 1975, Adams began began working with acting coach, Charles E. Conrad. He was cast in a variety of shows like: “The Monkees”, “Hotel”, The Practice”, “Archie Bunker’s Place”, “General Hospital”, “Kojak” and “Hill Street Blues”. Throughout the 80’s and 90’s to the present, Adams has appeared in dozens of film and television projects like: “Rocky IV”, “The “Execution”, “Falling Through”, “Murder She Wrote” and as a series regular on “Riptide”. Adams is currently starring in two feature film, Abeo Pharisee and The Studio Club. ^[10]

Film/Television acting coach[link]

Shortly after leaving the Charles E. Conrad Studio in 1978, Adams began teaching a handful of actors from the local community college that has led to a thirty year coaching career at The Actors Workshop. Some of his former students include Kristy Swanson, Brian Krause, Sarah Lancaster. Vicellous Reon Shannon and Schae Harrison. Mr. Adams has appeared as a panelist for the Screen Actors Guild Foundation, conducts workshops for AFTRA and the new SAG-AFTRA. Mr. Adams often appears as a guest speaker at various high schools, colleges and universities as well as the host of the very popilar "Coaching Corner" on the Virtual Channel Network. The Actors Workshop is currently ranked as one of the top 3 Acting Schools in California.^[11]

Documentary producer[link]

In 1976, Adams founded Shannon & Company which served Orange County and Los Angeles as a full service advertising agency until the company converted to a broadcast and film production company in the 1980s focusing primarily on historical documentary projects and docudramas. The company rolled out a number of films including: “Ruins of the Reich”, “The Missions of California”, “Order Castles of the Third Reich” and “The Final Journey”.

Personal life[link]

Adams is married to Diane C. Adams and has four children. Jill an executive with the Disney Corporation, Kara a special ed teacher, David production director for Shannon & Company productions and Rob Adams, acting coach at The Actors Workshop.^[12] Mr. Adams is an FAA licensed IFR/Commercial pilot and has flown various planes ranging from the Cessna 150 to the Cessna CE 550 corporate Jet.

References[link]

External links[link]

• R. J. Adams at the Internet Movie Database
• R. J. Adams at AllRovi
• Film Acting insights
• Bob Shannon radio history
• Shannon blooper bio

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2012)

Sidney Poitier
Sidney Poitier at the March on Washington, August 28, 1963
Born	(1927-02-20) February 20, 1927 (age 85) Miami, Florida
Occupation	Actor, director, writer, diplomat
Years active	1943–2001 (acting)
Spouse	Juanita Hardy (m.1950-1965; divorced) Joanna Shimkus (m.1976–present)

Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE^[1] ( /ˈpwɑːtjeɪ/ or /ˈpwɑːti.eɪ/; born February 20, 1927) is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat.

In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor^[2] for his role in Lilies of the Field.^[3] The significance of this achievement was later bolstered in 1967 when he starred in three well-received films To Sir, with Love; In the Heat of the Night; and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, making him the top box office star of that year. In all three films, issues revolve around the race of the characters Poitier portrays.^[4] In 1999, the American Film Institute named Poitier among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time, ranking 22nd on the list of 25.

Poitier has directed a number of popular movies such as A Piece of the Action; Uptown Saturday Night, and Let's Do It Again (with friend Bill Cosby), and Stir Crazy (starring Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder). In 2002, 38 years after receiving the Best Actor Award, Poitier was chosen by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to receive an Honorary Award, designated "To Sidney Poitier in recognition of his remarkable accomplishments as an artist and as a human being."^[5] Since 1997 he has been the Bahamian ambassador to Japan. On August 12, 2009, Sidney Poitier was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States of America's highest civilian honor, by President Barack Obama.^[6]

Early life[link]

Sidney Poitier was born in Miami, in Coconut Grove, where his Bahamian parents, Evelyn (née Outten) and Reginald James Poitier,^[7] traveled to sell tomatoes and other produce from their farm on Cat Island.^[8] His birth was two months premature and he was not expected to survive, but his parents remained three months in Miami to nurse him to health.^[9] Because of his birth in the U.S., he automatically gained U.S. citizenship.^[9] Poitier was raised in a Roman Catholic family.^[10] He grew up with his family on Cat Island, The Bahamas, then a British colony. At age 10, he moved to Nassau with his family.^[11][12] At the age of 15 he was sent to Miami to live with his brother. At the age of 17, he moved to New York City and held a string of jobs as a dishwasher. A Jewish waiter sat with him every night for several weeks helping him learn to read the newspaper. He then decided to join the United States Army after which he worked as a dishwasher until a successful audition landed him a spot with the American Negro Theater.^{[citation needed]}

Hollywood[link]

Acting career[link]

Poitier gets the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in 2009.

Poitier joined the American Negro Theater, but was rejected by audiences. Contrary to what was expected of black actors at the time, Poitier's tone deafness made him unable to sing.^[13] Determined to refine his acting skills and rid himself of his noticeable Bahamian accent, he spent the next six months dedicating himself to achieving theatrical success. On his second attempt at the theater, he was noticed and given a leading role in the Broadway production Lysistrata, for which he received good reviews. By the end of 1949, he had to choose between leading roles on stage and an offer to work for Darryl F. Zanuck in the film No Way Out (1950). His performance in No Way Out, as a doctor treating a white bigot (played by Richard Widmark), was noticed and led to more roles, each considerably more interesting and more prominent than those most black actors of the time were offered. Poitier's breakout role was as a member of an incorrigible high school class in Blackboard Jungle (1955).^{[citation needed]}

Poitier was the first male black actor to be nominated for a competitive Academy Award (for The Defiant Ones, 1958). He was also the first black actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor (for Lilies of the Field in 1963). (James Baskett was the first to receive an Oscar, an Honorary Academy Award for his performance as Uncle Remus in the Walt Disney production of Song of the South in 1948, while Hattie McDaniel predated them both, winning as Best Supporting Actress for her role in 1939's Gone with the Wind).

He acted in the first production of A Raisin in the Sun on Broadway in 1959, and later starred in the film version released in 1961. He also gave memorable performances in The Bedford Incident (1965), and A Patch of Blue (1965) co-starring Elizabeth Hartman and Shelley Winters. In 1967, he was the most successful draw at the box office, the commercial peak of his career, with three successful films, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner; To Sir, with Love and In the Heat of the Night. The last film featured his most successful character, Virgil Tibbs, a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, detective whose subsequent career was the subject of two sequels: They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! (1970) and The Organization (1971).^{[citation needed]}

Poitier began to be criticized for being typecast as over-idealized black characters who were not permitted to have any sexuality or personality faults, such as his character in Guess Who's Coming To Dinner. Poitier was aware of this pattern himself, but was conflicted on the matter: he wanted more varied roles, but also felt obliged to set a good example with his characters to defy previous stereotypes, as he was the only major black actor in the American film industry at the time.^{[citation needed]} In 2001, Poitier received an Honorary Academy Award for his overall contribution to American cinema.

Directorial career[link]

Poitier directed several films, the most successful being the Richard Pryor-Gene Wilder comedy Stir Crazy which for years was the highest grossing film directed by a person of African descent.^[14] His feature film directorial debut was the western Buck and the Preacher in which Poitier also starred, alongside Harry Belafonte. Poitier replaced original director Joseph Sargent. The trio of Poitier, Cosby, and Belafonte reunited again (with Poitier again directing) in Uptown Saturday Night. Poitier also directed Cosby in Let's Do It Again, A Piece of the Action, and Ghost Dad. Poitier also directed the first popular dance battle movie Fast Forward in 1985.

From 1998 to 2003 he served as a Member of the Board of Directors of The Walt Disney Company.^[15]

Recording career[link]

Poitier recorded an album with the composer Fred Katz called "Poitier Meets Plato" in which Poitier recites passages from Plato's writings.

Diplomatic career[link]

In April 1997, Poitier was appointed Ambassador of the Bahamas to Japan, a position he currently holds. He is also the Ambassador of the Bahamas to UNESCO.

Personal life[link]

Poitier was first married to Juanita Hardy from April 29, 1950 until 1965. He has been married to Joanna Shimkus, a Canadian-born former actress of Lithuanian and Irish descent, since January 23, 1976. He has four daughters with his first wife and two with his second: Beverly,^[16] Pamela,^[17] Sherri,^[18] Gina,^[19] Anika,^[20] Sydney Tamiia.^[21]

Honours and awards[link]

• 1958 British Academy Film Award for Best Foreign Actor for The Defiant Ones
• 1958 Silver Bear for Best Actor (Berlin Film Festival) for The Defiant Ones^[22]
• 1963 Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Lilies of the Field
• 1963 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama for Lilies of the Field
• 1963 Silver Bear for Best Actor (Berlin Film Festival) for Lilies of the Field^[23]
• 1974 Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE)
• 1982 Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award^[24]
• 1992 AFI Life Achievement Award
• 1995 Kennedy Center Honors
• 1997 Appointed non-resident Bahamian Ambassador to Japan
• 1999 SAG Life Achievement Award
• 2000 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special for The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn
• 2001 NAACP Image Award - Hall of Fame Award
• 2001 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album – Rick Harris, John Runnette (producers) and Sidney Poitier for The Measure of a Man
• 2002 Honorary Oscar – "For his extraordinary performances and unique presence on the screen and for representing the industry with dignity, style and intelligence"
• 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom^[25]
• 2011 Film Society of Lincoln Center Gala Tribute^[26] honoring his life and careers

Filmography[link]

Actor[link]

Director[link]

Television[link]

Works about Poitier[link]

Autobiographies[link]

Poitier has written three autobiographical books:

• This Life (1980)
• The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography (2000)
• Life Beyond Measure – letters to my Great-Granddaughter (2008, an Oprah's Book Club selection).

Poitier is also the subject of the biography Sidney Poitier: Man, Actor, Icon (2004) by historian Aram Goudsouzian.^{[citation needed]}

Movies about Poitier[link]

• Sidney Poitier, an Outsider in Hollywood (Sidney Poitier, an outsider à Hollywood). Documentary film by Catherine Arnaud. Arte, France, 2008, 70 minutes.
• Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light. American Masters, PBS. USA, 2000. 60 minutes.^[27]

See also[link]