Acting

2023		AFI Life Achievement Award: 50th Anniversary Special as Self (archive footage)
2023		Reinventing Elvis: The 68' Comeback as Self (archive footage)
2023		Paul Newman: The Restless as Self (archive footage)
2023		Sidney Poitier - Der Mann, der Hollywood veränderte as (archive footage)

2022		Denzel Washington - Un modèle américain as Self
2022		Sidney as Self

2018		Poitier's Walter Lee as Self (archive footage)
2018		Mr. SOUL! as Self (archival footage)

2017		Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes / Feeling Heart as Self
2017		I Am Not Your Negro as Various Roles (archive footage)
2017		The Madding Crowd as Self (archive footage)

2014

as Self (archive footage)

2013		Moms Mabley as Self
2013		Martin Luther King and the March on Washington as Self

2012

as Self

2007

as Self

2004

as Self

2003

as Self

2001		Quincy Jones: In the Pocket as Self
2001		The Last Brickmaker in America as Henry Cobb
2001		AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Barbra Streisand as Self

2000		Richard Widmark: Strength of Characters as Self
2000		Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light

1999		The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn as Noah Dearborn
1999		Free of Eden as Will Cleamons

1998		David and Lisa as Dr. Jack Miller
1998		Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist as Reverend Msimangu (archive footage)

1997		The Jackal as Carter Preston
1997		Mandela and de Klerk as Nelson Mandela
1997		Afro Promo as Self (archive footage)

1996

as Mark Thackeray

1995

(2 episodes) as Gypsy Smith

1992

as Crease

1991		Separate but Equal (2 episodes) as Thurgood Marshall
1991		Separate But Equal as Thurgood Marshall

1988		Little Nikita as Roy Parmenter
1988		Shoot to Kill as Warren Stantin
1988		Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night as Self - Audience Member

1986

as Self

1985

as Self

1984

as Self

1979

as Narrator (voice)

1978

(1 episode) as Self

1977

as Manny Durrell

1975		Let's Do It Again as Clyde Williams
1975		The Wilby Conspiracy as Shack Twala

1974

as Steve Jackson

1973		A Warm December as Dr. Matt Younger
1973		The American Film Institute Salute to ... (1 episode) as Self

1972		Nationtime as Self - Narrator
1972		Buck and the Preacher as Buck

1971		The Organization as Virgil Tibbs
1971		Brother John as John Kane

1970		They Call Me Mister Tibbs! as Virgil Tibbs
1970		King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis as Self (archive footage)

1969

as Jason Higgs

1968		For Love of Ivy as Jack Parks
1968		The Dick Cavett Show (1 episode) as Self - Guest

1967		Guess Who's Coming to Dinner as John Prentice
1967		In the Heat of the Night as Virgil Tibbs
1967		To Sir, with Love as Mark Thackeray

1966		Duel at Diablo as Toller
1966		The Strolling '20s as Self

1965		The Slender Thread as Alan Newell
1965		A Patch of Blue as Gordon Ralfe
1965		The Bedford Incident as Ben Munceford
1965		The Greatest Story Ever Told as Simon of Cyrene
1965		A Cinderella Named Elizabeth as Self

1964

as Aly Mansuh

1963

as Homer Smith

1962		Pressure Point as Doctor
1962		The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1 episode) as Self

1961		Paris Blues as Eddie Cook
1961		A Raisin in the Sun as Walter Lee Younger

1960

as Sgt. Eddie Towler

1959		Virgin Island as Marcus
1959		Porgy and Bess as Porgy

1958

as Noah Cullen

1957		The Mark of the Hawk as Obam
1957		Band of Angels as Rau-Ru
1957		Something of Value as Kimani Wa Karanja
1957		Edge of the City as Tommy Tyler

1956		Good-bye, My Lady as Gates Watson
1956		Tony Awards (1 episode) as Self - Presenter
1956		Cinépanorama (1 episode) as Self

1955		A Man Is Ten Feet Tall as Tommy Tyler
1955		Blackboard Jungle as Gregory W. Miller

1954

as Inman Jackson

1953

(7 episodes) as Self

1952

as Robertson

1951

as Reverend Msimangu

1950

as Dr. Luther Brooks

1948

(1 episode) as Tommy Tyler (1 episode)