Director: Otto Preminger

Writer: N. Richard Nash

From a play: Porgy by Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward

Keywords: Musical

Folk opera set 1912 in Catfish Row, Charleston, South Carolina, featuring the top echelon of the period's black actors. Porgy loves Bess, a women who repeatedly makes very poor decisions regarding men. Sidney Poitier initially refused participation, but relented as the studio would have deprived him of key roles in other films, notably The Defiant Ones. The actors collectively insisted the caricature dialect in Nash's script not be used. Winner of the Oscars for Best Score, Best Costume Design, and Best Sound Recording.

For many years Porgy and Bess was unavailable for viewing. Rights were not purchased outright by the producers; it was instead leased for a period of 15 years. After that time, the Gershwin estate refused to relicense or even permit screenings, and went to far as to acquire and destroy as many prints as it could obtain.

Name	Occupation	Birth	Death	Known for
Claude Akins	Actor	25-May-1926	27-Jan-1994	Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo
Pearl Bailey	Singer	29-Mar-1918	17-Aug-1990	Appointed by Nixon as Ambassador of Love
Diahann Carroll	Singer	17-Jul-1935		Claudine
Dorothy Dandridge	Actor	9-Nov-1922	8-Sep-1965	Carmen Jones
Sammy Davis, Jr.	Singer	8-Dec-1925	16-May-1990	Coolest hepcat in the Rat Pack
Ivan Dixon	Actor	6-Apr-1931	16-Mar-2008	Sgt. Kinchloe on Hogan's Heroes
Brock Peters	Actor	2-Jul-1927	23-Aug-2005	To Kill a Mockingbird
Sidney Poitier	Actor	20-Feb-1927		In The Heat Of The Night

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