Born during a family trip to the southern US state of Florida in 1927, Poitier grew up in poverty to tomato-farming parents on Cat Island in the Bahamas. He started dreaming of film and cinema at an early age, and after moving to join his older brother in Miami at the age of 15 he started taking acting classes at the American Negro Theatre – paying for them by working there as a machinist. His first appearance on stage failed miserably. But after spending months working on getting rid of his Bahamian accent, he was finally noticed and eventually given...