A Patch of Blue

Sidney Poitier, with his inimitable mixture of strength, sensitivity, and understated intelligence, plays a passerby whose act of kindness leads to an unexpected friendship with an illiterate blind girl in this touching drama, shot in and around MacArthur Park and adapted for the screen and directed by Oscar-winning cinematographer Guy Green (Great Expectations). Elizabeth Hartman received a Best Actress nomination for her film debut as the abused Selina, with Shelley Winters earning her second supporting actress Oscar as Selina’s racist mother Rose-Ann. Both Shelley Winters and Poitier were members of The Actors Studio; Winters went on to both moderate and teach there over the years. The film was also nominated for its art direction, Robert Burks’s widescreen black-and-white cinematography, and the delicate score by Jerry Goldsmith