even make you cry." To win his role as Dr. Prentice in the film, Poitier had to audition for Tracy and Hepburn at two separate dinner parties. Poitier began to be criticized for being typecast as over-idealized African-American characters who were not permitted to have any sexuality or personality faults, such as his character in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Poitier was aware of this pattern himself but was conflicted on the matter. He wanted more varied roles; but he also felt obliged to set an example with his characters, by challenging old stereotypes, as he was the only major actor of African descent being cast in leading roles in the American film industry at the time. For instance, in 1966, he turned down an opportunity to play the lead in an NBC television production of Othello with that spirit in mind. Despite this, many of the films in which Poitier starred during the 1960s would later be cited as social thrillers by both filmmakers and critics. 1970s In the Heat of the Night featured his most successful character, Virgil Tibbs, a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, detective whose subsequent career was the subject of two sequels: They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970) and The Organization (1971). In 1972 he made his feature film directorial debut, the Western Buck and the Preacher, in which Poitier also starred, alongside Harry Belafonte and Ruby Dee. Poitier replaced the original director, Joseph Sargent. The following year he directed his second feature, the romantic drama A Warm December. Poitier also starred in the film alongside Esther Anderson. During the 1970s, Poitier directed several financially successful comedy films, including three in which he also starred: Uptown Saturday Night (1974) with Bill Cosby and Harry Belafonte; and Let's Do It Again (1975) and A Piece of the Action (1977), both with Cosby. His most successful comedy was Stir Crazy (1980), starring Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder, which for many years was the highest-grossing film directed by a person of African descent. Later career In 1985, he directed Fast Forward and, in 1990, he reunited with Cosby directing him in the family comedy Ghost Dad. In 1988, he starred in Shoot to Kill with Tom Berenger. In 1992, he starred in Sneakers with Robert Redford and Dan Aykroyd. In 1997, he co-starred in The Jackal with Richard Gere and Bruce Willis. In the 1990s, he starred in several well received