REST IN PEACE to the FIRST BLACK PERSON and FIRST BAHAMIAN to win the ACADEMY AWARD FOR BEST ACTOR. SIR SIDNEY L. POITIER

[Edited 1/7/22 18:57pm]

Another icon gone. A man with a conscience and a need to fight for civil rights. He was also a very fine actor. What will this world do without people like this? I shudder to think.

R.I.P. He achieved so much, not by bluster but with class, dignity and by being genuine

Great actor, activist, and all around human being. We need more like him.

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Why ain't this a sticky?!?!

I saw an old CBS interview with him. He talked about the slap in In The Heat of the Night. He demanded that change. He got it in writing that the studio agreed to him slapping the white florist, after being slapped, and that nowhere in the world would it be shown without the retaliatory slap. He would not be portrayed as someone getting abused. And that's why it's in the movie.

He said he was always going to play someone of upright moral character, educated, and sometimes smarter than the white folks around him. I say more of that! It's not special privilege or demand, that's just equality and fairness in media.

Kudos to him. In the interview, he said he wrote a novel (this was 2013) not intending to do so. But he had to find out who he was at this (that) point in his life. Leslie Stahl asked, "Who are you?"

"I'm a good person."

This was posted on other sites dedicated to Prince.

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Prince had a deep respect and appreciation for the work of Sidney Poitier. "Sidney Poitier was the epitome of excellence," Prince once told his manager Ruth Violette. Prince was honored to have met Sidney, and remarked that when Sidney spoke, "it reminded me of music, the grace and elegance of a ballad.”

IanRG said:

This was posted on other sites dedicated to Prince.

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Prince had a deep respect and appreciation for the work of Sidney Poitier. "Sidney Poitier was the epitome of excellence," Prince once told his manager Ruth Violette. Prince was honored to have met Sidney, and remarked that when Sidney spoke, "it reminded me of music, the grace and elegance of a ballad.”

This thread should be a sticky. I recently watch Shoot to Thrill (aka Deadly Persuit).

[Edited 1/12/22 18:28pm]

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From his daughter, Sydney's tribute:

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"There are no words for this, no real way to prepare for this. No prose beautiful enough, no speech eloquent enough, to capture the essence of my dad. We know his accomplishments are many and that he quite literally changed the landscape for everyone who came after him. He blazed a trail through rough and hostile terrain so those coming behind him could have a bit more ease on the journey. What I really want people to know is how GOOD he was, I know people know he was good, but they don't know the depth of his goodness. That it permeated every cell of his being."

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Other tributes have praised not just what he did and fought for but that he did in a way that enabled and encouraged others to follow and he supported them in this - a truly rare and wonderful person.