5 wins
&
13 nominations
Sidney Poitier's singing voice was dubbed by opera singer Robert McFerrin (father of pop singer, classical conductor and composer Bobby McFerrin).
Sammy Davis Jr. sings and acts the role of Sportin' Life in the film, but for contractual reasons his vocals could not be used on the soundtrack album, so another legendary Sportin' Life, Cab Calloway, recorded his renditions of the songs for posterity, singing to the film's orchestral and choral tracks.
The Gershwin family strongly disapproved of this version; they felt that producer Samuel Goldwyn had glamorized and "Hollywoodized" it too much, and that he had made a mistake in firing the film's original director, Rouben Mamoulian (director of the original stage version in 1935). The film was withdrawn from release in 1974. The only place it can be seen now is in film archives.
Two days before filming was slated to begin, a fire broke out and destroyed most of the costumes, props and sketches.
Sidney Poitier had adamantly refused to take the role of Porgy when offered it by Samuel Goldwyn because he felt it perpetuated stereotypes of blacks of a bygone era. However, he was convinced to accept the project by friends and colleagues because a refusal of a Samuel Goldwyn offer would probably have ended his career in films.
The Gershwin family was dissatisfied with the film, largely because it was not staged as a true opera with all the recitative performed musically, and also because the two leads had their singing voices dubbed. The film's original director, Rouben Mamoulian, wanted to film on location, but producer Samuel Goldwyn refused and insisted on using sound stages. When a mysterious fire broke out and destroyed the sets, Mamoulian again requested that the film be made on location. Enraged, Goldwyn felt that Mamoulian was taking advantage of a misfortune, promptly fired him, and hired Otto Preminger, who made the film on sound stages in Hollywood. The film is currently (Nov. 2002) withheld from release because of actions by both the Gershwin and Goldwyn estates, as neither Samuel Goldwyn nor the Gershwin family were satisfied with the film.
This was the last film to be produced by Samuel Goldwyn.
According to the 7 November 1957 issue of Jet magazine, the film's producers were interested in R&B singer Clyde McPhatter for the role of Sportin' Life
The film's renditions of "Summertime" by Loulie Jean Norman (dubbing Diahann Carroll) and Adele Addison (dubbing Dorothy Dandridge) have placed at #52 in the AFI's (American Film Institute) list of the 100 Best Movie Songs of All Time.
Dorothy Dandridge and Pearl Bailey were also reluctant to be in the film, until they heard that Poitier and Sammy Davis, Jr. were going to be in it. Sammy Davis, Jr. was the only one of the four leads who was actually eager to play his role in the movie.
Version of
Porgy and Bess (1993) (TV)
Porgy and Bess (2002) (TV)
Referenced in
Frank Sinatra's Welcome Home Party for Elvis Presley (1960) (TV)
- Sammy Davis jr. does his number from porgy and bess
White Nights (1985)
- At one point, Gregory Hines does a song-and-dance to "There's a Boat dat's Leavin' Soon for New York", from "Porgy and Bess".
To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (1995)
Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999) (TV)
"American Masters: Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light" (2000)
Featured in
Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies (2001) (TV)
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions (2002) (TV)
The 100 Greatest Musicals (2003) (TV)
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs (2004) (TV)
- This features two clips of the song "Summertime".