Sidney Poitier Has Passed Away At Age 94

Another great actor lost.

Sidney lived in the Bahamas when it was still a British Colony. He was born in Miami in 1927 when his father (a farmer) and his mother (in her 7th month of pregnancy) went there for a weekend to sell produce. She unexpectedly went into labor and gave birth. Sidney was not expected to survive. Being born in America, he held dual citizenship.

He permanently moved to the states at the age of 15 to be with extended family, and lied about his age to enlist in the Army during WW2. He worked in an Army psychiatric hospital and--horrified at what he saw there--faked mental illness in order to obtain a discharge. (He actually fessed up to the fact he was faking, and the sympathetic Army doctor helped him out, anyway.) He then went into acting, having the usual fits & starts that many in the profession do. His specific shortcoming--in an era when black actors were cast in roles where they also sang--was being tone deaf.

There's lots to his biography. He was a trail-blazer in an era when black actors & actresses were just beginning to enter the mainstream (Poitier started out in the American Negro Theater), yet he was not of American culture, so sometimes took controversial roles that other black actors rejected as being demeaning (such as the lead role in the film adaptation of Porgy and Bess.) He took roles that some criticized as being one-dimensional (no real character flaws or depth) in movies that pushed back against stereotypes of American blacks, but that was during a transitional era in film, and his acting was done from the perspective of an immigrant.

I've always enjoyed his work. And he came across as being a genuinely nice guy.

R.I.P.

 

Topic Detour
I just read that at the time, interracial marriage was still illegal in 17 states. Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was ill during the making of that movie, and died 2 weeks after he finished filming his role. There's a story there about Hepburn moving in with him 4 years prior due to Tracy's lifestyle-inflicted medical issues, to include a coma and kidney failure 2 years before making that movie. Those tears of hers in Tracey's famous last scene are real.

Back On Topic
I'd be hard-pressed to pick a specific favorite Poitier film. In The Heat Of The Night is certainly among the top 5, as is A Raisin In The Sun (Louis Gossett Jr's film debut.)

 

He was one of the great actors.

 

Man, I wish I had cable.

 

Man, I wish I had decent internet.