Upon his passing on January 6, 2022, I mourned the loss of Sidney Poitier. I looked to commemorate his life and career the best way I knew how by rediscovering his films and poring over his interviews.
One of the conversations making me appreciate his relationship with Oprah Winfrey was an excerpt from 2000 when he went on her show to promote his biography “Measure of The Man.” It’s not the only occasion, but from here you see much of the connective tissue leading to Sidney.
The new documentary was produced by Winfrey and directed by Reginald Hudlin. Although it was conceived before his death — featuring a wide-ranging slew of interviews from Poitier, his family, and many numerous friends and cultural luminaries — somehow it unwittingly became an ode to one of American cinema’s greatest figures.
As I stitched together my own understanding of Poitier, there are several shared sentiments strongly reflected by the documentary. Poitier did not grow up with the dichotomies of North and South or segregated Black and White society. His most formative years were lived out first on Cat Island and then in Nassau in The Bahamas. Here he spent time among the local Black community with only a handful of Whites, and ideas of subjugation or systemic oppression never crossed his mind.
In one of his most elucidating reminisces Mr. Poitier muses, “I didn’t know what a mirror was.” Thus, the only standards he could judge himself by were the traits his parents instilled in him. This identity had nothing to do with skin color. He was first and foremost a human being.
The Legend of Sidney Poitier
Sidney Poitier came to Florida at 15 with an inbred sense of himself, and the world tried to tell him he wasn’t who he thought he was. We hear tell of how he was fired from his first job as a department store delivery boy because he had the gall to bring a package to a white woman’s front door (without using the servant’s entrance). He was new to this whole issue of race in America, but it showed the utter absurdity and subsequent danger of such a society. That same day, his family was paid a visit by the KKK for his faux pas.
Poitier has a career by now built on the auspices of legend, and it’s a joy to have many of these recounted at length. He had his first experience with the subway to Harlem “taking the A Train” as immortalized by Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington.
There’s mention of the unnamed Jewish waiter who went over the newspaper with the young Poitier every evening so he could slowly improve his reading comprehension. He was thrown out of an audition for the American Negro Theater by the theater giant Frederick O’Neal and slowly cultivated his diction by listening to Norman Brokenshire on the radio. He also played as an understudy for another actor and part-time janitor named Harry Belafonte!
Somehow each of these reminisces has a providential quality to it because they seem to have galvanized the young actor into who he would become for a generation of moviegoers.
Facing Turbulent Times
One thing I had never fully considered was how Poitier was tangentially implicated during the tumult of the McCarthy Era. He came of age on the New York stage, which was always a more progressive space than Hollywood and one of the few creative beacons for him was Paul Robeson, a strong, eloquent voice who also became one of the primary targets of the witch hunts. Even at a young age, Poitier’s principles made him unruffled about the potentially disastrous association.
Another revelation came with the retelling of Belafonte and Poitier’s harrowing trip down to Mississippi in 1964. They recount parts of it to Dick Cavett about how they agreed to bring money down to the Voting Rights activist in the South. There’s so much context to appreciate, but they knew the danger engendered by their celebrity and met fierce intimidation from a cavalcade of KKK members escalating in a late-night car chase.
It feels worthy of a movie in itself, and one of the key players was Reverend Willie Blue. He feels like a remarkable eyewitness to have for another bit of lore out of the annals of Poitier’s history. Obviously, the actors made it to their destinations successfully and Blue recounts how the ground up to the treetops was full of people singing “Amen,” the song from Lilies of The Field. Indeed it felt like their saviors had arrived. It’s enough to give you goosebumps.
Hagiography is always a danger when documentaries are forged about people we know or love. There is an aspect of this with Sidney, but I do appreciate the time taken to consider some of the personal struggles too.
After the devastating assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., there was a schism between Poitier and Belafonte, who both held obdurate views on how they should react. As men with a strong personal sense of conscience, it drew them apart for a time, but their shared experience was insurmountable. Eventually, they reunited together onscreen for Buck and The Preacher.
Poitier was also happily married to Joanna Shimkus for almost 50 years after starring together in The Lost Man. However, he was married once before to Juanita Hardy, in a marriage that was partially exacerbated by his turbulent and passionate relationship with Diahann Carroll. If Poitier’s life was measured against his parent’s values, this infidelity no doubt felt like a blemish to his guiding ideals. However, what makes heroes often more relatable are times when they do show their flaws.
Sidney: Conclusion
For Poitier novices and acolytes alike, I think there’s much to be appreciated about this timely homage. I was a bit wary to have Winfrey so closely involved because it would be easy to make this a narrative focused solely on their mentoring relationship. However, it feels far more wide-ranging and generous looking to come to terms with the breadth of his life.
The title designs introducing his films are sleek and for the uninitiated who are not totally squeamish about black and white, I can see the clips piquing greater curiosity. And the talking heads enlist just about everyone you would want to testify to his character. The only living person I could conceivably think of who was missing was Judy Geeson from To Sir, With Love (and we did get Lulu).
One of the final questions we must ask ourselves is where does the legacy of Poitier leave us in the present? In the beginning, he was a forerunner, covering terrain few others had tread. Then, he was castigated for being unhip and over-palatable in a generation seeking a new kind of revolutionary self-expression.
However, on a more practical level as Poitier’s career evolved, my greatest takeaway is how he empowered Blacks behind the camera. The industry talks often about the narrative surrounding the Denzel Washingtons and the Halle Berrys who followed in his footsteps in front of the camera. Still, he also left behind a body of work as a director and no doubt laid the groundwork for many other careers throughout the industry including Winfrey’s. This is part of his imperceptible impact I hadn’t even considered before.
Most often people are defined by their most salient features: This could be their name, their looks, or their vocation. Poitier seemed to somehow quietly dismiss all of these on his path to success.
He mentions when he looked on the screen it was not his name — it was really his father’s name that was up there. It was up to him to honor it. And since his youth, he was imbued with his own sense of self-worth. Again, he literally had no mirror to shape his identity. Somehow these informed his career.
When he stands up tall and proud in In The Heat of the Night or tries to explain to his father, why he sees himself as a Man in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, all of this reflects Poitier’s own deeply held beliefs. Because although he made his living as an actor with a career that’s left an immeasurable impact on many of us (including this viewer), his life’s goal was to be a better human being — not a better actor.
Yes, he was imperfect, but he did a great deal of good. It does seem like everything else was added to him. He might disagree, but I’m glad his life has been put up to the mirror. I see no greater tribute to him than enjoying his films together. Because at their very best, they lift up the dignity of human beings — a dignity he always seemed intent on exemplifying.
Do you have a favorite Sidney Poitier Film? What do you think his legacy is today? Let us know in the comments below!
Sidney was released on AppleTV+ on September 23rd.
Watch Sidney
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