But if you're of a certain (younger) age, you might not even know he was. That's because he's been pretty much out of the public eye for quite some time. And if you only know what comes to you via TikTok or Instagram or Snapchat you've likely not heard of him. That's your loss.
Let's put it this way: before Denzel Washington was Denzel Washington, there was Sidney Poitier. And if you were lucky enough to be around when he was one of the biggest stars of Hollywood (and a cultural icon as well) the first thing that comes mind might be A Raisin in the Sun or A Patch of Blue or Lillies of the Field or Guess Who's Coming to Dinner or To Sir, With Love or The Defiant Ones. Those were some of the landmark movies that he starred in. He was a trailblazer and the first African American man to win an Oscar for Best Actor.
And we rushed to see all of those movies. And we loved them. They engaged us emotionally; they made us think; they touched our souls; they reconnected us to something real, something visceral, something human. And they did all this in a way that many movies today do not. Poitier's movies didn't need mega screens or supersonic sound or, in some cases, even technicolor. These movies told stories -- stories that unfolded in a civilized, sensible manner.
But what we really think of, above all, when we think of Sidney Poitier is dignity. He carried himself with dignity. He acted with dignity. His voice carried the timber of dignity. And he conducted his life, personally and professionally, with dignity. And people respected this. They respected it and actually loved him for it because what they saw was a disciplined professional who brought his very best to everything he touched, to every aspect of his life. But Sidney Poitier would be the first to remind you that he was far from perfect. “We're all somewhat courageous," Poitier once said "and we're all considerably cowardly. We're all imperfect, and life is simply a perpetual, unending struggle against those imperfections.” And this man certainly had his share of struggle.
Poitier often brought to his roles a sort of quiet rage. It emerged from time to time. You could see it in his eyes, in the tightening of his face, in his demeanor. It gave his acting depth, authenticity, authority. But this was not acting. This was part of the man -- a deeply imbedded anger that he learned to deal with. “I've learned that I must find positive outlets for anger or it will destroy me," he observed. "There is a certain anger: it reaches such intensity that to express it fully would require homicidal rage--self destructive, destroy the world rage--and its flame burns because the world is so unjust. I have to try to find a way to channel that anger to the positive, and the highest positive is forgiveness, " he concluded.
The lessons of this man's life are monumental and vastly instructive. And they're all there for everyone to see in the body of his work, in his movies and in his splendid "spiritual autobiography", The Measure of A Man.
Thank you Sidney for reaching and teaching without ever preaching. You showed the way!
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