All Discussions Tagged '94' - Pittsburgh Jazz Network2024-03-29T01:22:42Zhttps://jazzburgher.ning.com/group/obituaries/forum/topic/listForTag?tag=94&feed=yes&xn_auth=noVocalist Ernie Andrews pass at 94tag:jazzburgher.ning.com,2022-02-23:1992552:Topic:5541742022-02-23T05:18:30.939ZDr. Nelson Harrisonhttps://jazzburgher.ning.com/profile/NelsonHarrison
<h1 class="firstHeading mw-first-heading" id="firstHeading">Ernie Andrews</h1>
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<h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading mw-first-heading">Ernie Andrews</h1>
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<div id="mw-content-text" class="mw-body-content mw-content-ltr" lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en"><div class="mw-parser-output"><table class="infobox vcard plainlist">
<tbody><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-above"><div class="fn">Ernie Andrews</div>
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<tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dexter_Gordon_%26_Ernie_Andrews.jpg" class="image" title="Ernie Andrews, left, and Dexter Gordon at KJAZ, Alameda, California, December 1980"><img alt="Ernie Andrews, left, and Dexter Gordon at KJAZ, Alameda, California, December 1980" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/04/Dexter_Gordon_%26_Ernie_Andrews.jpg/220px-Dexter_Gordon_%26_Ernie_Andrews.jpg" width="220" height="147"/></a><div class="infobox-caption">Ernie Andrews, left, and<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter_Gordon" title="Dexter Gordon">Dexter Gordon</a><span> </span>at<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KREV_(FM)" title="KREV (FM)">KJAZ</a>,<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alameda,_California" title="Alameda, California">Alameda, California</a>, December 1980</div>
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<tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header">Background information</th>
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<tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><span class="nowrap">Birth name</span></th>
<td class="infobox-data nickname">Ernest Mitchell Andrews Jr.</td>
</tr>
<tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Born</th>
<td class="infobox-data">December 25, 1927<span class="noprint ForceAgeToShow"><span> </span>(age 94)</span><br/><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia" title="Philadelphia">Philadelphia</a>, Pennsylvania, United States</td>
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<tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Genres</th>
<td class="infobox-data"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues" title="Blues">Blues</a>,<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz" title="Jazz">jazz</a>,<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_music" title="Pop music">pop</a></td>
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<tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><span class="nowrap">Occupation(s)</span></th>
<td class="infobox-data role">Singer</td>
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<tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Labels</th>
<td class="infobox-data"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNP_Records" title="GNP Records">GNP</a>,<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Records" title="Capitol Records">Capitol</a>,<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot_Records" title="Dot Records">Dot</a>,<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNP_Crescendo_Records" title="GNP Crescendo Records">GNP Crescendo</a>,<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_Records" title="Discovery Records">Discovery</a>,<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse_Records" title="Muse Records">Muse</a>,<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HighNote_Records" title="HighNote Records">HighNote</a></td>
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<tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><span class="nowrap">Associated acts</span></th>
<td class="infobox-data"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_James" title="Harry James">Harry James</a></td>
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<p><b>Ernest Mitchell Andrews Jr.</b>,<sup id="cite_ref-bare_1-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Andrews#cite_note-bare-1">[1]</a></sup><span> </span>known professionally as<span> </span><b>Ernie Andrews</b><span> </span>(born December 25, 1927) is an American<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz" title="Jazz">jazz</a>,<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues" title="Blues">blues</a>, and<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_music" title="Pop music">pop</a><span> </span>singer.</p>
<div id="toc" class="toc"><div class="toctitle" lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en"><h2 id="mw-toc-heading">Contents</h2>
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<ul>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Andrews#Career"><span class="tocnumber">1</span><span class="toctext">Career</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Andrews#Discography"><span class="tocnumber">2</span><span class="toctext">Discography</span></a><ul>
<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Andrews#As_leader"><span class="tocnumber">2.1</span><span class="toctext">As leader</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Andrews#As_sideman"><span class="tocnumber">2.2</span><span class="toctext">As sideman</span></a></li>
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<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Andrews#References"><span class="tocnumber">3</span><span class="toctext">References</span></a></li>
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<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Career">Career</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ernie_Andrews&action=edit&section=1&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Career">edit source</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2>
<p>Ernie Andrews was born in<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia" title="Philadelphia">Philadelphia</a>,<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania" title="Pennsylvania">Pennsylvania</a>, United States, but grew up in<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles" title="Los Angeles">Los Angeles</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-Downbeat_2-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Andrews#cite_note-Downbeat-2">[2]</a></sup><span> </span>and is said to have been discovered by songwriter<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Greene_(American_songwriter)" title="Joe Greene (American songwriter)">Joe Greene</a><span> </span>in 1945. Greene wrote his biggest hit, "Soothe Me".<sup id="cite_ref-AMG_Green_3-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Andrews#cite_note-AMG_Green-3">[3]</a></sup></p>
<p>Andrews was a member of the<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_James" title="Harry James">Harry James</a><span> </span>orchestra, debuting on November 26, 1958, at the Blue Note jazz club in Chicago. He recorded with<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Records" title="Columbia Records">Columbia Records</a><span> </span>and others.<sup id="cite_ref-Downbeat_2-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Andrews#cite_note-Downbeat-2">[2]</a></sup><span> </span>His career declined in the 1960s and 1970s but would rebound in the 1980s. He recorded with the<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Capp" title="Frank Capp">Capp/Pierce Juggernaut Band</a>,<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Harris" title="Gene Harris">Gene Harris</a>,<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_McShann" title="Jay McShann">Jay McShann</a>, and the Harper Brothers. Andrews played a leading part in the<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_film" title="Documentary film">documentary film</a>,<span> </span><i>Blues for Central Avenue</i>.<sup id="cite_ref-AMG_4-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Andrews#cite_note-AMG-4">[4]</a></sup></p>
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Discography">Discography</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ernie_Andrews&action=edit&section=2&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Discography">edit source</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2>
<h3><span class="mw-headline" id="As_leader">As leader</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ernie_Andrews&action=edit&section=3&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: As leader">edit source</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3>
<ul>
<li><i>In the Dark</i><span> </span>(GNP, 1957)</li>
<li><i>The Importance of Being Ernest</i><span> </span>(GNP, 1959)</li>
<li><i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_Session!" title="Live Session!">Live Session! Cannonball Adderley with Ernie Andrews</a></i><span> </span>(<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Records" title="Capitol Records">Capitol</a>, 1965)</li>
<li><i>This Is Ernie Andrews</i><span> </span>(<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot_Records" title="Dot Records">Dot</a>, 1967; CD reissue:<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verve_Records" title="Verve Records">Verve</a>, 2005)</li>
<li><i>Soul Proprietor</i><span> </span>(Dot, 1968)</li>
<li><i>Ernie Andrews Sings with the Fuzzy Kane Trio</i><span> </span>(Phil-L.A. of Soul, 1970)</li>
<li><i>Travelin' Light</i><span> </span>(<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNP_Crescendo_Records" title="GNP Crescendo Records">GNP Crescendo</a><span> </span>1975) compilation</li>
<li><i>Hear Me Now!</i><span> </span>(LMI, 1979)</li>
<li><i>Sings from the Heart</i><span> </span>(<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_Records" title="Discovery Records">Discovery</a>, 1981)</li>
<li><i>No Regrets</i><span> </span>(<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse_Records" title="Muse Records">Muse</a>, 1993; CD reissue:<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/32_Records" title="32 Records">32 Jazz</a>, 1998)</li>
<li><i>The Great City</i><span> </span>(Muse, 1995)</li>
<li><i>The Many Faces of Ernie Andrews</i><span> </span>(<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HighNote_Records" title="HighNote Records">HighNote</a>, 1998)</li>
<li><i>Girl Talk</i><span> </span>(HighNote, 2001)</li>
<li><i>Jump For Joy</i><span> </span>(HighNote, 2003)</li>
<li><i>How About Me</i><span> </span>(HighNote, 2005)</li>
<li><i>The L.A. Treasures Project</i><span> </span>with<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clayton-Hamilton_Jazz_Orchestra" class="mw-redirect" title="Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra">Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra</a>,<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Morrison" title="Barbara Morrison">Barbara Morrison</a><span> </span>(<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capri_Records" title="Capri Records">Capri</a>, 2014)</li>
</ul>
<h3><span class="mw-headline" id="As_sideman">As sideman</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ernie_Andrews&action=edit&section=4&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: As sideman">edit source</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3>
<p><b>With<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_Burrell" title="Kenny Burrell">Kenny Burrell</a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellington_Is_Forever" title="Ellington Is Forever">Ellington Is Forever</a></i><span> </span>(<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy_Records" title="Fantasy Records">Fantasy</a>, 1975)</li>
<li><i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellington_Is_Forever_Volume_Two" title="Ellington Is Forever Volume Two">Ellington Is Forever Volume Two</a></i><span> </span>(Fantasy, 1977)</li>
</ul>
<p><b>With<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Capp" title="Frank Capp">Frank Capp</a><span> </span>&<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_Pierce" title="Nat Pierce">Nat Pierce</a></b></p>
<ul>
<li>Frank Capp & Nat Pierce:<span> </span><i>Juggernaut</i><span> </span>(<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concord_Jazz" title="Concord Jazz">Concord</a>, 1977)</li>
<li>The Frank Capp-Nat Pierce Orchestra:<span> </span><i>Juggernaut Strikes Again!</i><span> </span>(Concord, 1982)</li>
</ul>
<p><b>With<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_James" title="Harry James">Harry James</a></b></p>
<ul>
<li>"Blue Baiao" b/w "She's Got to Go" (45rpm single,<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MGM_Records" title="MGM Records">MGM</a>, 1959) Andrews sings on the B-side<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Andrews#cite_note-5">[5]</a></sup></li>
<li><i>Live at the Riverboat</i><span> </span>(<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot_Records" title="Dot Records">Dot</a>, 1966)<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Andrews#cite_note-6">[6]</a></sup></li>
<li><i>Our Leader!</i><span> </span>(Dot, 1967)<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Andrews#cite_note-7">[7]</a></sup></li>
<li><i>Duke Ellington, Harry James, Herb Pomeroy, Jon Hendricks</i><span> </span>(Europa Jazz, 1981).<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Andrews#cite_note-8">[8]</a></sup><span> </span>Live with Harry James & His Orchestra at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1965</li>
<li><i>One Night Stand with Harry James at the Blue Note</i><span> </span>(Joyce, 1983)<sup id="cite_ref-JoyceAragon_9-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Andrews#cite_note-JoyceAragon-9">[9]</a></sup></li>
</ul>
<p><b>With others</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Cooper_(musician)" title="Bob Cooper (musician)">Bob Cooper</a><span> </span>and Snooky Young,<span> </span><i>In a Mellotone</i><span> </span>(<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contemporary_Records" title="Contemporary Records">Contemporary</a>, 1986)</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Hampton" title="Lionel Hampton">Lionel Hampton</a>,<span> </span><i>Live at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre</i><span> </span>(Phillip, 1998) 2-CD</li>
<li>The Harper Brothers,<span> </span><i>You Can Hide Inside the Music</i><span> </span>(Verve, 1992)</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Harris" title="Gene Harris">Gene Harris</a><span> </span>& the Philip Morris Superband,<span> </span><i>Live at Town Hall, N.Y.C.</i><span> </span>(Concord, 1989)</li>
<li>Gene Harris & the Philip Morris All-Stars<span> </span><i>Live</i><span> </span>(Concord, 1998)</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Hibbler" title="Al Hibbler">Al Hibbler</a>, I Surrender Dear (Score [Aladdin subsidiary], 1957)</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plas_Johnson" title="Plas Johnson">Plas Johnson</a>,<span> </span><i>Christmas in Hollywood</i><span> </span>(Carell, 2000)</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saskia_Laroo" title="Saskia Laroo">Saskia Laroo</a>,<span> </span><i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunset_Eyes_2000" title="Sunset Eyes 2000">Sunset Eyes 2000</a></i><span> </span>(Laroo, 1999)</li>
<li>The Legacy Band,<span> </span><i>The Legacy Lives On</i><span> </span>(<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mack_Avenue_Records" title="Mack Avenue Records">Mack Avenue</a>, 2000)</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_McShann" title="Jay McShann">Jay McShann</a><span> </span>& the Paris All-Stars,<span> </span><i>Paris All-Star Blues: A Tribute to Charlie Parker</i><span> </span>(MusicMasters/BMG;<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_Heritage_Society" title="Musical Heritage Society">Musical Heritage Society</a>, 1991)</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div> Sidney Poitier Dies at 94tag:jazzburgher.ning.com,2022-01-10:1992552:Topic:5537032022-01-10T20:57:20.388ZDr. Nelson Harrisonhttps://jazzburgher.ning.com/profile/NelsonHarrison
<div class="css-1vkm6nb ehdk2mb0"><h1 class="css-rsa88z e1h9rw200" id="link-39354399">Sidney Poitier, Who Paved the Way for Black Actors in Film, Dies at 94</h1>
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<p class="css-w6ymp8 e1wiw3jv0" id="article-summary">The first Black performer to win the Academy Award for best actor, for “Lilies of the Field,” he once said he felt “as if I were representing 15, 18 million people with every move I made.…</p>
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<p class="css-w6ymp8 e1wiw3jv0"><img alt="" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/11/21/obituaries/00poitier-toppix/merlin_116048183_6005ff54-74c0-4cd5-b903-fd339037ed9e-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale"></img></p>
<div class="css-1vkm6nb ehdk2mb0"><h1 id="link-39354399" class="css-rsa88z e1h9rw200">Sidney Poitier, Who Paved the Way for Black Actors in Film, Dies at 94</h1>
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<p id="article-summary" class="css-w6ymp8 e1wiw3jv0">The first Black performer to win the Academy Award for best actor, for “Lilies of the Field,” he once said he felt “as if I were representing 15, 18 million people with every move I made.</p>
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<p class="css-w6ymp8 e1wiw3jv0"><img alt="" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/11/21/obituaries/00poitier-toppix/merlin_116048183_6005ff54-74c0-4cd5-b903-fd339037ed9e-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale"/></p>
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<div class="css-bsn42l"><source media="(max-width: 599px) and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 3),(max-width: 599px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 3),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 3dppx),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 288dpi)"></source><source media="(max-width: 599px) and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 2),(max-width: 599px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 2dppx),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 192dpi)"></source><source media="(max-width: 599px) and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 1),(max-width: 599px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 1),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 1dppx),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 96dpi)"></source><img alt="Sidney Poitier’s Academy Award for the 1963 film “Lilies of the Field” made him the first Black performer to win in the best-actor category. He rose to prominence when the civil rights movement was beginning to make headway in the United States." class="css-rq4mmj" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/11/21/obituaries/00poitier-toppix/merlin_116048183_6005ff54-74c0-4cd5-b903-fd339037ed9e-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" width="600" height="895"/></div>
<span class="css-16f3y1r e13ogyst0">Sidney Poitier’s Academy Award for the 1963 film “Lilies of the Field” made him the first Black performer to win in the best-actor category. He rose to prominence when the civil rights movement was beginning to make headway in the United States.</span><span class="css-cnj6d5 e1z0qqy90"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Credit...</span><span>Sam Falk/The New York Times</span></span><br />
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<div class="css-sklrp3"><div class="css-1e2jphy epjyd6m1"><div class="css-233int epjyd6m0"><p class="css-aknsld e1jsehar1"><span class="byline-prefix">By<span> </span></span><span class="css-1baulvz last-byline"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/william-grimes" class="css-mrorfa e1jsehar0">William Grimes</a></span></p>
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<div class="css-1cqo4d"><span class="css-1sbuyqj e16638kd3">Jan. 7, 2022</span></div>
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<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Sidney Poitier, whose portrayal of resolute heroes in films like “To Sir With Love,” “In the Heat of the Night” and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” established him as Hollywood’s first Black matinee idol and helped open the door for Black actors in the film industry, died on Thursday night at his home in Los Angeles. He was 94.</p>
<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">His death was confirmed by Eugene Torchon-Newry, acting director general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Bahamas, where Mr. Poitier grew up. No cause was given.</p>
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<h2 class="css-9wqu2x">Sidney Poitier, Pioneering Actor, Dies at 94</h2>
<h4 class="css-qsd3hm">Sidney Poitier was the first Black actor to win the Academy Award for best actor, for “Lilies of the Field,” and helped open the door for Black actors in the film industry.</h4>
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<dd class="css-12tddc8"><p class="css-8hvvyd">I was overwhelmed. Thirty-seven years is quite a long wait. I got there on my terms. My terms meant that I would get there if I am accepted as I perceived myself. I was an African American actor. That was who I was. [Reporter:] “Mr. Poitier. Mr. Poitier.” It is the actor’s job to create the essence of the man, and to do that, we need more than his gestures and more than the cadence of his speech. We need to understand the values that are the foundation of the personality. Was it a thrill for me to accept the role? Well, first the thrill was to have been offered the role, and accepting it was never a question. I admire the man, not just because of his colossal achievements, but also because of who he was, his strength of character, his willingness to stand up and be counted, and the way he plotted and navigated his life’s journey. I’m appreciative. It’s the one — I follow some of the very best actors in America. I don’t know that I’m worthy of being in that kind of company, but I certainly respect them to the point that I would appreciate being in such company.</p>
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<div class="Row-3UfofSZ6"><div class="Cell-2a0dWPCm -12of12-1oUQr8pP"><div class="metadataDefaults-27tYH3-1"><span class="duration-m-3vHhfujj duration-3jGh_a6i durationBase-2eZiMjVV franklin-2GJdS5XG">1:37</span><span class="headline-m-2dosP_hi headlineDefaults-2uBnrXxL headline-3TZmBGEa cheltenham-20WX1MC- multiLineTruncation-2SsSKq-i">Sidney Poitier, Pioneering Actor, Dies at 94</span></div>
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<span class="css-16f3y1r e13ogyst0">Sidney Poitier was the first Black actor to win the Academy Award for best actor, for “Lilies of the Field,” and helped open the door for Black actors in the film industry.</span><span class="css-cch8ym"><span class="css-1dv1kvn">Credit</span><span class="css-cnj6d5 e1z0qqy90"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Credit...</span><span>Matt Sayles/Associated Press</span></span></span><br />
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<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Mr. Poitier, whose Academy Award for the 1963 film “Lilies of the Field” made him the first Black performer to win in the best-actor category, rose to prominence when the civil rights movement was beginning to make headway in the United States. His roles tended to reflect the peaceful integrationist goals of the struggle.</p>
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<div class=""><div class="related-links-block css-1j2g5xc epkadsg3"><div class="css-8isunk epkadsg0">‘AN ENORMOUS SOUL’</div>
<div class="css-17vkvn1 epkadsg1">Follow updates as<span> </span><a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/01/07/movies/sidney-poitier?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article" title="">Sidney Poitier, a trailblazing Black star, is remembered</a>.</div>
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<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Although often simmering with repressed anger, his characters responded to injustice with quiet determination. They met hatred with reason and forgiveness, sending a reassuring message to white audiences and exposing Mr. Poitier to attack as an Uncle Tom when the civil rights movement took a more militant turn in the late 1960s.</p>
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<div class="css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Image</span><div class="css-8h527k"><div><source media="(max-width: 599px) and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 3),(max-width: 599px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 3),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 3dppx),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 288dpi)"></source><source media="(max-width: 599px) and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 2),(max-width: 599px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 2dppx),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 192dpi)"></source><source media="(max-width: 599px) and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 1),(max-width: 599px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 1),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 1dppx),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 96dpi)"></source><img alt="Mr. Poitier with, from left, Katharine Houghton, Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” (1967). He played a doctor whose race tests the liberal principles of his prospective in-laws." class="css-1m50asq" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/02/03/obituaries/00Poitier4/merlin_116048138_e53fc68b-b950-442c-a9b3-5bf722bf0f94-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale"/></div>
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<span class="css-16f3y1r e13ogyst0">Mr. Poitier with, from left, Katharine Houghton, Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” (1967). He played a doctor whose race tests the liberal principles of his prospective in-laws.</span><span class="css-cnj6d5 e1z0qqy90"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Credit...</span><span>Columbia Pictures</span></span><br />
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<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">“It’s a choice, a clear choice,” Mr. Poitier said of his film parts in a 1967 interview. “If the fabric of the society were different, I would scream to high heaven to play villains and to deal with different images of Negro life that would be more dimensional. But I’ll be damned if I do that at this stage of the game.”</p>
<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">At the time, Mr. Poitier was one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood and a top box-office draw, ranked fifth among male actors in Box Office magazine’s poll of theater owners and critics; he was behind only Richard Burton, Paul Newman, Lee Marvin and John Wayne. Yet racial squeamishness would not allow Hollywood to cast him as a romantic lead, despite his good looks.</p>
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<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">“To think of the American Negro male in romantic social-sexual circumstances is difficult, you know,” he told an interviewer. “And the reasons why are legion and too many to go into.”</p>
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<div class="css-1l19kgc e16ij5yr5"><div class="css-18k65ak e16ij5yr3">Rare, Early Glimpses of Sidney Poitier</div>
<div class="css-x7rtpa e16638kd1">Feb. 20, 2019</div>
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<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Mr. Poitier often found himself in limiting, saintly roles that nevertheless represented an important advance on the demeaning parts offered by Hollywood in the past. In “No Way Out” (1950), his first substantial film role, he played a doctor persecuted by a racist patient, and in “Cry, the Beloved Country” (1952), based on the Alan Paton novel about racism in South Africa, he appeared as a young priest. His character in “Blackboard Jungle” (1955), a troubled student at a tough New York City public school, sees the light and eventually sides with Glenn Ford, the teacher who tries to reach him.</p>
<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">In “The Defiant Ones” (1958), a racial fable that established him as a star and earned him an Academy Award nomination for best actor, he was a prisoner on the run, handcuffed to a fellow convict (and virulent racist) played by Tony Curtis. The best-actor award came in 1964 for his performance in the low-budget “Lilies of the Field,” as an itinerant handyman helping a group of German nuns build a church in the Southwestern desert.</p>
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<div class="css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Image</span><div class="css-8h527k"><div><source media="(max-width: 599px) and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 3),(max-width: 599px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 3),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 3dppx),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 288dpi)"></source><source media="(max-width: 599px) and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 2),(max-width: 599px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 2dppx),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 192dpi)"></source><source media="(max-width: 599px) and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 1),(max-width: 599px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 1),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 1dppx),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 96dpi)"></source><img alt="Mr. Poitier and Lilia Skala in “Lilies of the Field” (1963), for which Mr. Poitier won an Oscar. " class="css-1m50asq" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/02/03/obituaries/00Poitier6/merlin_116048087_37bd3149-4413-4e5b-9d0b-980a3e8c7336-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale"/></div>
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<span class="css-16f3y1r e13ogyst0">Mr. Poitier and Lilia Skala in “Lilies of the Field” (1963), for which Mr. Poitier won an Oscar. </span><span class="css-cnj6d5 e1z0qqy90"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Credit...</span><span>United Artists</span></span><br />
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<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">In 1967 Mr. Poitier appeared in three of Hollywood’s top-grossing films, elevating him to the peak of his popularity. “In the Heat of Night” placed him opposite Rod Steiger, as an indolent, bigoted sheriff, with whom Virgil Tibbs, the Philadelphia detective played by Mr. Poitier, must work on a murder investigation in Mississippi. (In an indelible line, the detective insists on the sheriff’s respect when he declares, “They call me Mr. Tibbs!”) In “To Sir, With Love” he was a concerned teacher in a tough London high school, and in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” a taboo-breaking film about an interracial couple, he played a doctor whose race tests the liberal principles of his prospective in-laws, played by Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.</p>
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<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Throughout his career, a heavy weight of racial significance bore down on Mr. Poitier and the characters he played. “I felt very much as if I were representing 15, 18 million people with every move I made,” he once wrote.</p>
<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Mr. Poitier grew up in the Bahamas, but he was born on Feb. 20, 1927, in Miami, where his parents traveled regularly to sell their tomato crop. The youngest of nine children, he wore clothes made from flour sacks and never saw a car, looked in a mirror or tasted ice cream until his father, Reginald, moved the family from Cat Island to Nassau in 1937 after Florida banned the import of Bahamian tomatoes.</p>
<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">When he was 12, Mr. Poitier quit school and became a water boy for a crew of pick-and-shovel laborers. He also began getting into mischief, and his parents, worried that he was becoming a juvenile delinquent, sent him to Miami when he was 14 to live with a married brother, Cyril.</p>
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<span class="css-16f3y1r e13ogyst0">Mr. Poitier played a Philadelphia detective and Rod Steiger played a bigoted Mississippi sheriff in “In the Heat of Night,” one of three hit films in which Mr. Poitier appeared in 1967.</span><span class="css-cnj6d5 e1z0qqy90"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Credit...</span><span>Mirisch/United Artists, The Kobal Collection</span></span><br />
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<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Mr. Poitier had known nothing of segregation growing up on Cat Island, so the rules governing American Black people in the South came as a shock. “It was all over the place like barbed wire,” he later said of American racism. “And I kept running into it and lacerating myself.”</p>
<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">In less than a year he fled Miami for New York, arriving with $3 and change in his pocket. He took jobs washing dishes and working as a ditch digger, waterfront laborer and delivery man in the garment district. Life was grim. During a race riot in Harlem, he was shot in the leg. He saved his nickels so that on cold nights he could sleep in pay toilets.</p>
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<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">In late 1943 Mr. Poitier lied about his age and enlisted in the Army, becoming an orderly with the 1267th Medical Detachment at a veterans hospital on Long Island. Feigning a mental disorder, he obtained a discharge in 1945 and returned to New York, where he read in The Amsterdam News that the American Negro Theater was looking for actors.</p>
<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">His first audition was a flop. With only a few years of schooling, he read haltingly, in a heavy West Indian accent. Frederick O’Neal, a founder of the theater, showed him the door and advised him to get a job as a dishwasher.</p>
<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Undeterred, Mr. Poitier bought a radio and practiced speaking English as he heard it from a variety of staff announcers. A kindly fellow worker at the restaurant where he washed dishes helped him with his reading. Mr. Poitier finally won a place in the theater’s acting school, but only after he volunteered to work as a janitor without pay.</p>
<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">His lucky break came when another actor at the theater, Harry Belafonte, did not show up for a rehearsal attended by a Broadway producer. Mr. Poitier took the stage instead and was given a part in an all-Black production of “Lysistrata” in 1946. Although panned by the critics, it led to a job with the road production of “Anna Lucasta.”</p>
<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">“No Way Out” was followed by a sprinkling of film and television roles, but Mr. Poitier still bounced between acting jobs and menial work.</p>
<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">In 1951 he married Juanita Marie Hardy, a dancer and model, whom he divorced in 1965. They had four daughters, Beverly, Pamela, Sherri and Gina. In 1976 he married Joanna Shimkus, his co-star in “The Lost Man” (1969), a film about a gang of Black militants plotting to rob a factory. They had two daughters, Anika and Sydney.</p>
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<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Ms. Shimkus survives him. His daughter Gina Patrice Poitier Gouraige died in 2018. Complete information about his survivors was not immediately available.</p>
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<div class="css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Image</span><div class="css-8h527k"><div><source media="(max-width: 599px) and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 3),(max-width: 599px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 3),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 3dppx),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 288dpi)"></source><source media="(max-width: 599px) and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 2),(max-width: 599px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 2dppx),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 192dpi)"></source><source media="(max-width: 599px) and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 1),(max-width: 599px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 1),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 1dppx),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 96dpi)"></source><img alt="Mr. Poitier with Tony Curtis in “The Defiant Ones” (1958), which established him as a star and earned him an Academy Award nomination for best actor." class="css-1m50asq" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/02/03/obituaries/00Poitier3/merlin_116048132_be788865-6cb5-413f-b6ad-ebc0093da5dc-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale"/></div>
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<span class="css-16f3y1r e13ogyst0">Mr. Poitier with Tony Curtis in “The Defiant Ones” (1958), which established him as a star and earned him an Academy Award nomination for best actor.</span><span class="css-cnj6d5 e1z0qqy90"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Credit...</span><span>United Artists</span></span><br />
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<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">After breakout movies like “Blackboard Jungle” and “The Defiant Ones,” Mr. Poitier’s fate was tied to Hollywood, his purpose to expand the boundaries of racial tolerance. “The explanation for my career was that I was instrumental for those few filmmakers who had a social conscience,” he later wrote.</p>
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