Sir Sidney Poitier Films Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lilies of the Field

Based on the novel by William Edmund Barrett. Sidney plays Homer Smith, a freelance worker who was hired to repair the roof of the nuns' house. When Mother Maria asks him to build the church, he refuses at first, but then decides that it would be a great challenge to him.

Contrary to common belief, Sidney did not sing the hymn "Amen". This was sung by Jester Hairston, who wrote the song, but Sidney does do a great job of lip-syncing!

Sidney won the Academy Award for Best Actor, being the first black man to do so.

Answer: To Sir, With Love

Mark Thackeray has been unable to find an engineering job in London, and accepts the offer to become a teacher at a tough school in London's East End. The students are rowdy and uncooperative at first. But when Mark begins to treat them as adults and with respect, they eventually do the same for him.

For the film, Sidney was the first black actor to win a Golden Globe Award.

Answer: A Patch of Blue

Sidney plays Gordon Ralfe, who meets Selina D'Arcey, a blind white girl who is uneducated and lives with her abusive mother and alcoholic grandfather. She helps provide money by stringing beads. Her mother and mother's friend Sadie plan to force Selina into prostitution to make more money, but Gordon rescues her and arranges for her to attend a school for the blind.

Answer: Guess Who's Coming To Dinner

Sidney plays Dr. John Prentice, a widower who met Joanna Drayton during a vacation in Hawaii. They become engaged after a ten day courtship. Both John's and Joanna's parents object to the engagement. John tells the Drayton parents he will withdraw from the engagement unless both Draytons give the couple their blessing. To complicate matters, John is soon scheduled to Geneva, Switzerland, for three months in his work with the World Health Organization.

His answer from the Draytons will determine whether Joanna follows him.

They eventually change their minds and agree to the marriage.

Answer: In the Heat of the Night

Sidney portrays a homicide detective from Philadelphia, who happens to be at the train station in Sparta, Mississippi. At first, he is under suspicion of committing murder, but later works with the Chief of the Sparta police to bring the real killer to justice.

Tibbs wants to leave town on the next train, but his Chief in Philadelphia suggests he stay in Sparta to help Gillespie with the murder investigation. Though Gillespie, like many of Sparta's white residents, is racist, he and Tibbs reluctantly agree to work together.

This film sparked the TV series starring Carroll O'Conner and Howard E. Rollins Jr. and ran from 1988-1992 in the US.

Answer: The Defiant Ones

Sidney and his fellow escapee must learn to get along with each other in spite of prejudice in order to survive. They eventually learn to like and respect each other.

Sidney was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and won an award in the British Academy Film Awards as Best Foreign Actor.

Answer: Uptown Saturday Night

Sidney portrays Steve Jackson, a steel-mill worker. While enjoying themselves at Madame Zenobia's club on Saturday night, Steve Jackson and Wardell Franklin are held up by robbers who raid the club and steal Steve's wallet.

He and Franklin set out to catch the crooks by themselves, with hilarious results!

Answer: A Piece of the Action

Sidney, along with another man, are thieves who have been lucky enough to avoid arrest.

They are blackmailed by a retired detective who has enough evidence on the both of them to put them behind bars. Instead, he offers to maintain his silence if the crooks will go straight and do work at a youth center for delinquents.

Answer: Let's Do It Again

This is the third film where Sidney teams up with Bill Cosby. They go from Atlanta to New Orleans to rig a boxing match. Sidney, who is an expert hypnotist, makes the underdog for the fight think he's a champion, then they bet on him since the odds of his winning are very low.

Unfortunately, they anger two members of opposing mob groups, and are forced to return to New Orleans and do the same again. But Sidney is unable to unhypnotize the man, so they use their wives to place bets with both mobs, betting for a tie.

They win that bet as well, fixing the fight to be a tie; each participant knocking out the other.

Answer: The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn

Sidney portrays Noah Dearborn, a rural Georgia skilled carpenter, who lives alone without electricity and seems frozen in time.

A land developer tries to purchase Noah's land, but he refuses to sell. The developer enlists the aid of his girlfriend, a psychologist, to have Noah declared mentally incompetent, but the plan backfires when she takes Noah's side and helps him to keep it.