Download or read book Sidney Poitier written by Aram Goudsouzian and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 508 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The life and career of Sidney Poitier are analyzed in this biography of the actor, highlighting his work as the only black leading man during the civil rights era and the honors he has received for his work for racial equality in Hollywood.
Download or read book The Films of Sidney Poitier written by Alvin H. Marill and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Measure of a Man written by Sidney Poitier and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "I have no wish to play the pontificating fool, pretending that I've suddenly come up with the answers to all life's questions. Quite the contrary, I began this book as an exploration, an exercise in selfquestioning. In other words, I wanted to find out, as I looked back at a long and complicated life, with many twists and turns, how well I've done at measuring up to the values I myself have set." In this luminous memoir, a true American icon looks back on his celebrated life and career. His body of work is arguably the most morally significant in cinematic history, and the power and influence of that work are indicative of the character of the man behind the many storied roles. Sidney Poitier here explores these elements of character and personal values to take his own measure--as a man, as a husband and father, and as an actor. Poitier credits his parents and his childhood on tiny Cat Island in the Bahamas for equipping him with the unflinching sense of right and wrong and of selfworth that he has never surrendered and that have dramatically shaped his world. "In the kind of place where I grew up," recalls Poitier, "what's coming at you is the sound of the sea and the smell of the wind and momma's voice and the voice of your dad and the craziness of your brothers and sisters ... and that's it." Without television, radio, and material distractions to obscure what matters most, he could enjoy the simple things, endure the long commitments, and find true meaning in his life. Poitier was uncompromising as he pursued a personal and public life that would honor his upbringing and the invaluable legacy of his parents just a few years after his introduction to indoor plumbing and the automobile, Poitier broke racial barrier after racial barrier to launch a pioneering acting career. Committed to the notion that what one does for a living articulates who one is, Poitier played only forceful and affecting characters who said something positive, useful, and lasting about the human condition. Here, finally, is Poitier's own introspective look at what has informed his performances and his life. Poitier explores the nature of sacrifice and commitment, pride and humility, rage and forgiveness, and paying the price for artistic integrity, What emerges is a picture of a man seeking truth, passion, and balance in the face of limits--his own and the world's. A triumph of the spirit, The Measure of a Man captures the essential Poitier.
Download or read book I Am Not Sidney Poitier written by Percival Everett and published by Graywolf Press. This book was released on 2011-08-02 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I Am Not Sidney Poitier is an irresistible comic novel from the master storyteller Percival Everett, and an irreverent take on race, class, and identity in America I was, in life, to be a gambler, a risk-taker, a swashbuckler, a knight. I accepted, then and there, my place in the world. I was a fighter of windmills. I was a chaser of whales. I was Not Sidney Poitier. Not Sidney Poitier is an amiable young man in an absurd country. The sudden death of his mother orphans him at age eleven, leaving him with an unfortunate name, an uncanny resemblance to the famous actor, and, perhaps more fortunate, a staggering number of shares in the Turner Broadcasting Corporation. Percival Everett's hilarious new novel follows Not Sidney's tumultuous life, as the social hierarchy scrambles to balance his skin color with his fabulous wealth. Maturing under the less-than watchful eye of his adopted foster father, Ted Turner, Not gets arrested in rural Georgia for driving while black, sparks a dinnertable explosion at the home of his manipulative girlfriend, and sleuths a murder case in Smut Eye, Alabama, all while navigating the recurrent communication problem: "What's your name?" a kid would ask. "Not Sidney," I would say. "Okay, then what is it?"
Download or read book Sidney Poitier written by Sidney Poitier and published by Running Press Adult. This book was released on 2024-10-01 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The speeches of film legend Sidney Poitier—given at commencement addresses, awards shows, memorials, and more, on topics ranging from entertainment history to filmmaking, civil rights, and parenthood—come to vibrant life in this inspirational and stunningly packaged volume from the Poitier estate that sheds new light on the trailblazing artist's life and culture of the past century. Sidney Poitier represented strength, good looks, and above all dignity at a time when Black representation on the screen was so often relegated to servile parts. He broke ground as the top box-office draw in Hollywood at the peak of his career, and was the first Black actor to win the Best Actor Oscar, for his performance in Lillies of the Field (1963). Poitier—who narrowly escaped illiteracy after rising up from an impoverished childhood and the massive obstacles he faced as a Black man in mid-twentieth century America—was also one of the most articulate and sought-after speakers of his day. This book is a one-of-a-kind collection showcasing the wise, witty, and deeply personal speeches Poitier gave at awards ceremonies, family events, memorials, and more. His salutes to artists such as Dorothy Dandridge, Spencer Tracy, Stanley Kramer, and Denzel Washington offer fresh insight on icons of our time. Poitier's unforgettable cadence and voice are clear as day on the page, sometimes with careful edits and additions written in his own hand. Compiled by his wife, Joanna Poitier, and illustrated by dozens of professional and family photos, this collection stunningly captures all that was remarkable about the man through his own words; archives moments in the history of entertainment, culture, and civil rights; and offers a uniquely inspirational perspective on career, family, art, and life.
Download or read book Films of Sidney Poitier written by Outlet and published by . This book was released on 1981-06-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book I Thought We Were Making Movies Not History written by Walter Mirisch and published by Univ of Wisconsin Press. This book was released on 2008-04-10 with total page 502 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a moving, star-filled account of one of Hollywood’s true golden ages as told by a man in the middle of it all. Walter Mirisch’s company has produced some of the most entertaining and enduring classics in film history, including West Side Story, Some Like It Hot, In the Heat of the Night, and The Magnificent Seven. His work has led to 87 Academy Award nominations and 28 Oscars. Richly illustrated with rare photographs from his personal collection, I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History reveals Mirisch’s own experience of Hollywood and tells the stories of the stars—emerging and established—who appeared in his films, including Natalie Wood, John Wayne, Peter Sellers, Sidney Poitier, Steve McQueen, Marilyn Monroe, and many others. With hard-won insight and gentle humor, Mirisch recounts how he witnessed the end of the studio system, the development of independent production, and the rise and fall of some of Hollywood’s most gifted (and notorious) cultural icons. A producer with a passion for creative excellence, he offers insights into his innovative filmmaking process, revealing a rare ingenuity for placating the demands of auteur directors, weak-kneed studio executives, and troubled screen sirens. From his early start as a movie theater usher to the presentation of such masterpieces as The Apartment, Fiddler on the Roof, and The Great Escape, Mirisch tells the inspiring life story of his climb to the highest echelon of the American film industry. This book assures Mirisch’s legacy—as Elmore Leonard puts it—as “one of the good guys.” Best Books for Special Interests, selected by the American Association of School Librarians, and Best Books for General Audiences, selected by the Public Library Association
Download or read book 20 Sidney Poitier Movie Posters written by Abby Books and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-03-04 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presenting 20 Sidney Poitier Movie Posters... A collection of posters from the films of actor, filmmaker and director Sidney Poitier. According to the All Movie Guide, Poitier broke the color barrier, forever altering the racial perceptions long held by both motion picture audiences and executives, rising to superstar status in an industry forever dominated on both sides of the camera by whites while becoming the first black Academy Award winner for Best Actor in 1964, receiving the honor for his performance in Lilies of the Field (1963). Included in this mini-book are full-sized, color posters, printed on 8 x 10 white paper, from No Way Out (1950), Cry, the Beloved Country (1952), Edge of the City (1957), The Defiant Ones (1958), Porgy and Bess (1959), A Raisin in the Sun (1961), Paris Blues (1951), Lilies of the Field (1963), The Bedford Incident (1965), The Long Ships (1965), A Patch of Blue (1965), The Slender Thread (1966), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), In the Heat of the Night (1967), To Sir, With Love (1967), They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! (1970), The Organization (1971), Uptown Saturday Night (1974), Little Nikita (1988) and The Jackal (1997). 26 Pages / Full Color on White Paper.
Download or read book Sidney Poitier written by Carol Bergman and published by Holloway House Publishing. This book was released on 1990 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traces the life of the movie actor who won an Academy Award in 1963 and became a symbol of the breakthrough of black performers in motion pictures.
Download or read book The Devil Finds Work written by James Baldwin and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2013-09-17 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From "the best essayist in this country” (The New York Times Book Review) comes an incisive book-length essay about racism in American movies that challenges the underlying assumptions in many of the films that have shaped our consciousness. Baldwin’s personal reflections on movies gathered here in a book-length essay are also an appraisal of American racial politics. Offering a look at racism in American movies and a vision of America’s self-delusions and deceptions, Baldwin considers such films as In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and The Exorcist. Here are our loves and hates, biases and cruelties, fears and ignorance reflected by the films that have entertained and shaped us. And here too is the stunning prose of a writer whose passion never diminished his struggle for equality, justice, and social change.
Download or read book Sidney Poitier written by Aram Goudsouzian and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2011-01-20 with total page 495 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the first full biography of actor Sidney Poitier, Aram Goudsouzian analyzes the life and career of a Hollywood legend, from his childhood in the Bahamas to his 2002 Oscar for lifetime achievement. Poitier is a gifted actor, a great American success story, an intriguing personality, and a political symbol; his life and career illuminate America's racial history. In such films as Lilies of the Field, In the Heat of the Night, and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Poitier's middle-class, mannered, virtuous screen persona contradicted prevailing film stereotypes of blacks as half-wits, comic servants, or oversexed threats. His screen image and public support of nonviolent integration assuaged the fears of a broad political center, and by 1968, Poitier was voted America's favorite movie star. Through careful readings of every Poitier film, Goudsouzian shows that Poitier's characters often made sacrifices for the good of whites and rarely displayed sexuality. As the only black leading man during the civil rights era, Poitier chose roles and public positions that negotiated the struggle for dignity. By 1970, times had changed and Poitier was the target of a backlash from film critics and black radicals, as the new heroes of "blaxploitation" movies reversed the Poitier model. In the 1970s, Poitier shifted his considerable talents toward directing, starring in, and producing popular movies that employed many African Americans, both on and off screen. After a long hiatus, he returned to starring roles in the late 1980s. More recently, the film industry has reappraised his career, and Poitier has received numerous honors recognizing his multi-faceted work for black equality in Hollywood. As this biography affirms, Poitier remains one of American popular culture's foremost symbols of the possibilities for and limits of racial equality.
Download or read book Jean Arthur written by John Oller and published by Amadeus Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: She is probably best remembered for her wistful-husky voice which, as Pauline Kael wrote, "was one of the best sounds in the romantic comedies of the 30s and 40s". But Jean Arthur's screen career began in silent films and spanned more than a quarter of a century. She worked with great directors of Hollywood's Golden Age: John Ford, Frank Capra, Cecil B. DeMille, Howard Hawks, George Stevens and Billy Wilder; and she shared star billing with the likes of Gary Cooper, James Stewart, Cary Grant, Alan Ladd, Charles Boyer and John Wayne. Her most enduring films include Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, You Can't Take It With You, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The More the Merrier, The Whole Town's Talking, A Foreign Affair and, in her last screen appearance, Shane. She was, in fact, one of the most popular and beloved movie stars of her time. Jean Arthur's popularity sprang from her talent, her charm and her quiet beauty, not from her offscreen exploits. Independent, indifferent to most of Hollywood's rules if not defiant of them, treasuring her privacy above all else, she chose to become an enigma - and so she has remained until now. In this, the first biography of Jean Arthur, John Oller, after years of research among the actress's closest friends, relatives and co-workers, has uncovered the life she tried so hard to shroud: a bruising, rootless childhood that left her with a crushing sense of insecurity, but also a steely determination to stand up for herself and what she believed in; a romance with David O. Selznick that ended unhappily, a childless marriage to film executive Frank Ross that descended into bitterness and recrimination, and rumors of lesbianism that continue to this day; legal battles fought over the roles she was offered as well as in defense of animals and the environment; repeated, aborted attempts to conquer Broadway that yielded but one theatrical triumph - as Peter Pan, a character she loved because, like herself, he refused to deal with the world on its terms. This is an engrossing, humane biography that strikes a fitting balance between the acting career and the personal life of an unforgettable star, and does full justice to both.
Download or read book The Evolution of Character Portrayals in the Films of Sidney Poitier written by Samuel Lawrence Kelley and published by . This book was released on 1983 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Sidney Poitier Handbook Everything You Need to Know about Sidney Poitier written by Emily Smith and published by Tebbo. This book was released on 2011 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE (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 for his role in Lilies of the Field. 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 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."" 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. This book is your ultimate resource for Sidney Poitier. Here you will find the most up-to-date information, photos, and much more. In easy to read chapters, with extensive references and links to get you to know all there is to know about his Early life, Career and Personal life right away: Sepia Cinderella, Red Ball Express (film), Blackboard Jungle, Good-bye, My Lady (film), Edge of the City, Something of Value, Band of Angels, The Mark of the Hawk, The Defiant Ones, Porgy and Bess (film), All the Young Men, A Raisin in the Sun (film), Paris Blues, Pressure Point (film), The Long Ships (film), Lilies of the Field (1963 film), The Bedford Incident, The Greatest Story Ever Told, A Patch of Blue, The Slender Thread, Duel at Diablo, To Sir, with Love, In the Heat of the Night (film), Virgil Tibbs, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, For Love of Ivy, The Lost Man, They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!, Brother John, The Organization (film), Buck and the Preacher, A Warm December, Uptown Saturday Night, The Wilby Conspiracy, Let's Do It Again (1975 film), A Piece of the Action (film), Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist, Shoot to Kill (1988 film), Little Nikita, Sneakers (film), A Century of Cinema, The Jackal (1997 film) Contains selected content from the highest rated entries, typeset, printed and shipped, combining the advantages of up-to-date and in-depth knowledge with the convenience of printed books. A portion of the proceeds of each book will be donated to the Wikimedia Foundation to support their mission.
Download or read book Sidney Poitier written by David Paige and published by . This book was released on 1976 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A brief biography of the black actor who rose from abject poverty to become a superstar in films and on the stage.
Download or read book Montaro Caine written by Sidney Poitier and published by Doubleday UK. This book was released on 2013 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first novel from the beloved actor and director. A baby is born with a coin in her hand. An orphan crafts a mysterious wooden object. The CEO of a large corporation is under extraordinary pressure. And on a remote island, a medicine man understands the meaning of all these events.
Download or read book King of the Court written by Aram Goudsouzian and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 462 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "King of the Court provides a highly nuanced and sophisticated analysis of the great African American basketball player from his earliest days up to the present time. With great skill and much insight, Goudsouzian makes clear that Russell was a very complicated man who was full of contradictions in his own private life and in relationship to his business associates, teammates, opponents, the media, and the larger sporting public."—David K.Wiggins, George Mason University "Not only is King of the Court one of the most impressive and important sports biographies to come along in many a season, easily in the same class as David Maraniss's When Pride Still Mattered (on Vince Lombardi) and Wil Haygood's Sweet Thunder (on Sugar Ray Robinson), it is also one of the truly incisive books on the intersection of race, civil rights, and popular culture that have appeared in some time. Having grown up in Philadelphia, I was always a Wilt Chamberlain man and always will be, but King of the Court convinced me that Bill Russell defined his age in ways that Chamberlain never did. Russell was a man for all seasons. This is a biography befitting Russell's stature."—Gerald Early, author of One Nation Under a Groove: Motown and American Culture "Before there were crossover dribbles or slam dunk competitions, before they even kept statistics for blocked shots, Bill Russell dominated the game we call basketball. The respect he demanded as a black man during America's turbulent Civil Rights era made him the personification of a winner in life. King of the Court, like Russell's defense, locks it down, and puts it all in its proper context. Long live the King!"—Dr. Todd Boyd, author of Young, Black, Rich, and Famous: The Rise of the NBA, the Hip Hop Invasion, and the Transformation of American Culture "Bill Russell's life story is only incidentally about basketball. For him the sport was not a life; it was his vehicle for social change, a platform that showcased his vision for America as much as his athletic talent. In his magnificent biography, Aram Goudsouzian captures the nuance and meaning of Russell's career. After reading the book, one will never look at Russell or sports in quite the same way."—Randy Roberts, Purdue University "Brings back the excitement of the great days of the NBA and its legendary players, led by the king of them all, Bill Russell. Best book I've read on basketball in 40 years."—Bill McSweeny, co-author, with Bill Russell, of Go Up for Glory
