“Forgotten Hollywood”- BAFTA to Honour Sidney Poitier…
Manny P. here…
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts will honour Sir Sidney Poitier with the Fellowship at the EE British Academy Film Awards on February 14th. He joins such previous recipients: Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Elizabeth Taylor, Sean Connery, Stanley Kubrick, Judi Dench, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier, Martin Scorsese, and Helen Mirren.
Poitier began his acting career on Broadway in the 1940s before transitioning to motion pictures with No Way Out. Among his other cinematic credits: A Raisin in the Sun, Blackboard Jungle, Porgy and Bess, The Defiant Ones, Lilies of the Field. A Patch of Blue, To Sir With Love, In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner, and Sneakers. He has also directed nine features, including Buck and the Preacher, the classic Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder comedy, Stir Crazy, and Uptown Saturday Night.
Sir Sidney Poitier’s award-winning career features six BAFTA nominations, including one BAFTA win, and a Britannia Award for Lifetime Contribution to International Film. In 2002, he was awarded an honorary Oscar, and has also been nominated for seven Golden Globes, winning once; and he was presented with the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1982.
As well as pushing the boundaries of his craft on screen, Poitier played an active role in the American civil rights campaign, and served as Ambassador of the Bahamas to Japan and UNESCO from 1997 to 2007. In 1974, Queen Elizabeth II conferred a Knighthood on Poitier; and in 2009, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the US, by President Obama.
The BAFTA Awards take place at the Royal Opera House. Stephen Fry will return to host this year’s ceremony.
Sidney Poitier (right) remains a living inspiration to theater audiences, everywhere.
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<– Dan Haggerty was the burly actor best known as Grizzly Adams on television. The character evolved from his role in the feature film, The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams. He also appeared in Muscle Beach Party, with Elvis Presley in Girl Happy, and in the iconic Easy Rider. Dan guest-starred on the small screen in Tarzan, CHiPS, The Love Boat, Charlie’s Angels, and the reality television program, American Pickers.
Dan Haggerty was 74
Until next time> “never forget”
This entry was posted on Saturday, January 16th, 2016 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
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