african-american to win an academy award, the first to win in the best actor category. >> the winner is sidney poitier has this rise in the late '60s where he's not just a black actor. he was the biggest actor in hollywood. >> mom, this is john. >> "guess who's coming to dinner" was a huge hit in 1967. it started spencer tracy and katharine hepburn in the last of their films together, and it was about an interracial relationship. >> as for you two and the problems you're going to have, they seem almost unimaginable. but you'll have no problem with me. >> the year sidney poitier was the number one box office star, which was 1967, i saw all three of the movies, guess who's coming to dinner, to sir with love. >> i heard they're going to hire a half a dozen men. half of them will be colored. you know what that means? >> probably got him killed. >> she wants us to catch her killer. >> in the heat of the night, he played a detective who comes from the north to the south and has to solve a crime along with a racist sheriff played by rod stieger. what's being dramatized on film is actually happening in americ

first to win in the best actor category. >> sidney poitier. >> mr. is moment. >> sidney poitier has this rise in the late '60s where he's not just a black actor. he was the biggest actor in hollywood. >> mom, this is john. >> guesses who coming to dinner was a huge hit in 1967. that stars spencer tracy and kathryn hepburn in the last of their films together. and it was about an interracial relationship. >> as for you two and the problems you're going to have, they seem almost unimaginable. but you'll have no problem with me. >> the year sidney was the number one box office star i saw all three movies, guesses who come to dinner, in the heat of the night. >> you know what that means? >> he >> probably got him killed. >> that's what he she thinks. she wants to us catch her killer. >> in the heat of the night he played a detective who comes from the north to the south and has to solve a crime along with a racist sheriff played by rod steiger. and it was being dramatized on a flip, it's actually happening in america. >> vergeal is a funny name for a boy t

. >> sidney poitier would often be cast in blatant message movies of that era.." >> looking in the mirror this morning, i'm 35 years old. i'm married 11 years old and i've got a boy who has to sleep in the living room. >> "racin e i"raisin in the sunt integration. they buy a house in a nice white area but the people in the neighborhood don't want them there. >> our association is prepared to buy the house from you at a financial gain to your family. >> poitier gets to show more range in "raisin in the sun." >> you get out of here. >> he's angry at the system, angry at white supremacy. he's angry at the lack of economic opportunity for black americans. >> all i want is to make a future for this family. all i want is to be able to stand in front of my boy like my father never was able to do to me and tell him that he will be somebody in this world besides a servant and a chauffeur. >> these were not stereotypical black characters, magical negros or good negros who were there to demonstrate the ultimate good of mainstream white society. he's playing a well-rounded

but the most ironic i think is sidney poitier.he had three huge movies, "guess who's coming to dinner", "from russia with love", he went from being the greatest hero to passi . >> i think is a good time to open this to audience questions. if anyone has something that they would like to ask? we can bring you the microphone. but this is a fascinating panel. i greatly admire this a genre. i teach at purdue. it strikes me, it's a very challenging genre. how do you reconcile telling the story someone's life with the necessity of making an argument that intervenes with a scholarly debate it would reveal something new? how do you do that? is it explicit , an implicit? how do you waive argument and analysis with narrative when you're telling the story of an individual's life? >> okay. go ahead. that is a biggie. >> it is a biggie. >> to tell the story of a person's life, to tell john wayne's life. he made a 200 films as i said before. you cannot just go one film at a time. he did this and that. you have to search for a larger meaning in t

. >> audrey hepburn, sidney poitier, andy griffith, and of course james dean.d. it was method acting at its finest. i do think that he's absolutely one of the greatest actors who's ever lived and that's based on "east of eden" alone for me. >> "rebel without a cause" was the film that made james dean a massive star. he only was in three films. but all of them are unforgettable. >> i really was moved by "rebel without a cause." when he holds up the bottle to his forehead, i had never seen that. i don't know where that came from. it was so internal and so conflicted. >> my, you sure do look pretty. >> he just went farther than anyone i'd ever seen before that immersing himself in these characters. >> james dean becomes an iconic figure who speaks to a generation and when you add to that the unfulfilled life because of dying in his youth, you have a kind of perfect combination of a mythic figure of which there are very few in hollywood. ♪ a kiss on hand may be quite continental ♪ ♪ but diamonds are a girl's best friend ♪ >> one of the greatest images in the histor