Although it really shouldn’t have been a big surprise (hey, 94 trips around the Sun ain’t bad), Sidney Poitier’s last goodbye still hit me harder than I thought it would:
(CNN) Sidney Poitier, whose elegant bearing and principled onscreen characters made him Hollywood’s first Black movie star and the first Black man to win the best actor Oscar, has died. He was 94.
Clint Watson, press secretary for the Prime Minister of the Bahamas, confirmed to CNN that Poitier died Thursday evening.
Poitier overcame an impoverished background in the Bahamas and softened his thick island accent to rise to the top of his profession at a time when prominent roles for Black actors were rare. He won the Oscar for 1963’s “Lilies of the Field,” in which he played an itinerant laborer who helps a group of White nuns build a chapel.
Many of his best-known films explored racial tensions as Americans were grappling with social changes wrought by the civil rights movement. In 1967 alone, he appeared as a Philadelphia detective fighting bigotry in small-town Mississippi in “In the Heat of the Night” and a doctor who wins over his White fiancée’s skeptical parents in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.”
Even with 20/20 hindsight, it’s almost impossible to overestimate the impact of Sidney Poitier in White America’s Hollywood. In The Heat of The Night, the 1968 Oscar-winning film directed by Norman Jewison, has a scene that powerfully illustrated why that was.
Years ago, before Times Square was assimilated by The Borg Walt Disney Corporation, I used to skip my classes in high school, take the subway to 42nd Street and spend the day watching movies. On this particular afternoon, the movie that I saw was In The Heat of the Night, and I can still clearly remember feeling a collective gasp ripple throughout the entire theater when Poitier slapped Mr. Endicott in the face.
There are pivotal moments in movies when the screen becomes a portal that the audience willingly steps through and they completely immerse themselves into the story being told. Remember when Peter Finch and Murray Head shared a passionate kiss in Sunday Bloody Sunday? Alien revealed the horror of seeing the thing bursting out of John Hurt’s chest. The apes of 2001 gathering around the monolith. There’s Jaws, where a drunken Robert Shaw quietly explains to a horrified Scheider and Dreyfuss why he’ll never wear a life jacket again.
And Sidney Poitier was Virgil Tibbs, a black police detective from Philadelphia who is investigating a murder in goddamned Sparta, Mississippi, a small town in the deep South where black lives never mattered. But in spite of knowing how dangerous it was, Tibbs didn’t hesitate to slap that arrogant white plantation owner who stupidly assaulted him. They call me Mr. Tibbs. Even now, this scene is extraordinary and powerful.
It was the slap seen in movie theaters ’round the world.
But wait, it gets better.
In the textbook Civil Rights and Race Relations in the USA, Poitier states: “I said, ‘I’ll tell you what, I’ll make this movie for you if you give me your absolute guarantee when he slaps me I slap him right back and you guarantee that it will play in every version of this movie. I try not to do things that are against nature.”
And Poitier wasn’t a fraudulent Hollywood tough guy who only demonstrated his bravery by beating up on stuntmen onscreen. During the filming of In The Heat of the Night, the cast and crew were harassed by loudmouth redneck assholes. Poitier didn’t ask to leave; he slept with a gun under his pillow instead. As my favorite Aunt used to say, Don’t start none, won’t be none.
Not every movie that Poitier starred in was a classic, of course. However, throughout his distinguished career in Hollywood, Poitier never allowed himself to become the punchline of dumb racist jokes. I try not to do things that are against nature, Poitier said. And he kept that promise. Poitier was an ebony mirror that reflected black people’s strength, dignity and elegance. Shuckin’ and jivin’ was never in Poitier’s toolbox.
Poitier just ignored the “White Only” signs and went where he needed to go and the world made room for him because Poitier wouldn’t be ignored. And yeah, the brother made it look cool af, too.
(Because I’m a sf nerd, sometimes I like to imagine there’s an alternate universe where Poitier is sitting in the Captain’s chair on the Enterprise. That’d be so easy to sell.)
At the Academy Awards on March 24, 2002, a grateful Denzel Washington acknowledged the importance of Sidney Poitier’s legacy, because Washington understood that “next” will never happen if someone doesn’t do it “first”.
“Before Sidney, African American actors had to take supporting roles in major studio films that were easy to cut out in certain parts of the country,” Washington, then 47, told the audience before bringing Poitier to the stage. “But you couldn’t cut Sidney Poitier out of a Sidney Poitier picture. He was the reason a movie got made: the first solo, above-the-title African American movie star. He was unique.”
Thank you, Mr. Poitier. A blessing to your memory.
MomSense
That was a beautiful tribute. Thank you. ??
Quaker in a Basement
“To Sir with Love” was a big milestone in my world.
Baud
What MomSense said.
WaterGirl
Your first post as a front-pager. Happy to see you here!
sab
I love that photo of Obama and Poitier. Two very tall beautiful black men celebrating hard won professional accomplishments.
The Thin Black Duke
The first time I saw Poitier was in the western Duel at Diablo. Poitier was a gunslinger in powder blue and he looked badass.
jnfr
Thanks for this post.
For me, a poor white kid in the inner city, To Sir, With Love hit pretty close to home too.
debbie
Lilies of the Field did it for me. His dignity and compassion oozed from the screen. Even made me read the book (movie was much better).
Alison Rose
This was absolutely lovely, thank you. He was the definition of a legend.
Wvng
What a fine tribute to a great human being. Thank you. There were so many iconic moments in his best films that were just electric, like the one you highlighted. I wonder how many “I try not to do things that are against nature” stories behind the making of these films exist?
stacib
For a real treat, look up his interview with Oprah. You can’t take your eyes off him, and his stories grab you right from the beginning. Fortunately, Oprah didn’t muck it up by talking too much.
The Thin Black Duke
Can you imagine an evening where you were sharing space with Poitier and he was telling stories about what really happened?
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us
I think the only movie of his I’ve seen is Shoot to Kill which was an action comedy co staring Tom Beringer and Kirsty Ally of all people. He was good in it and it was a pretty good movie for the genre and era.
And yes I realize I just confessed to a gaping hole in my cinematic viewing library. I’m a Gen Xer and his most influential work was done before my time.
Doug R
Disney under the Touchstone label did a bunch of thrillers shot in BC including Stakeout. One of them was Poitier returning after a decade in Shoot To Kill.
It’s not a movie that got a lot of press, but it has solid performances from Poitier, Clancy Brown, Tom Berenger and even Kirstie Alley.
(edit) I see Romans got there just before me.
raven
“Something of Value” always rocked me. Juano Hernandez as “the oath giver” especially stuck with me.
jnfr
@The Thin Black Duke:
I can’t think of anything I’d like more.
hueyplong
In the Heat if the Night was my first Poitier and my last, because I watch it every time TCM airs it.
Anthony James, the diner peckerwood, began and ended his career in Oscar-winning movies (In the Heat of the Night, Unforgiven).
Mike in NC
The Bedford Incident is a favorite because the fictional USS Bedford was actually a ship that I served on for three years.
Spanish Moss
He is one of my favorite actors. I hadn’t thought of him in years, but news of his death has reminded me of how many of his movies I enjoyed. I didn’t know anything about his personal life, so I learned a lot from all of the recent articles about him. What a remarkable man! My family has started our own little film retrospective of his work, starting with the ones we have already seen, as a refresher. Interestingly enough, I never saw the film that won him an Oscar. Looking forward to seeing that soon.
WaterGirl
This is a truly lovely tribute. I am in tears. What a moment with him and Barack. Now I want to see all those movies again.
edit: He was one of my favorite actors, too. I would watch anything he was in.
West of the Rockies
His voice was sooo compelling: smooth and interesting and intelligent (and sometimes playful).
Leslie
Absolute class, from start to finish. I’m sorry he’s gone, but very grateful that we had him with us for a time, and still have his work to appreciate. Thank you for a moving tribute.
Miss Bianca
So, right now (when I should be spending all my reading energy on Midnight in Washington), I’ve been reading Wil Haygood’s Colorization: 100 Years of Black Film in a White World, and I’ve just left off on an interlude featuring Sidney Poitier at the 1964 Oscar ceremony.
Yeah, not surprisingly, this book has a lot to say about Sidney Poitier. And my list of films to catch up on is growing.
dnfree
The first film of his I remember was “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”, which was a film that was well-intentioned but completely miscast and wasted his talents. The core relationship between the accomplished doctor played by Poitier and an insipid young white woman was completely unbelievable—why would he give her a second glance? In 1967 it didn’t have the shock value that was intended
But since then I’ve seen him in so many earlier films that he shone in. He stood for his principles as few in that era were able to. Since his death, reading of his humble beginnings, makes his career all the more remarkable.
zhena gogolia
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us: gawd you do have some catching up to do ?I envy you it will be fun
Bodacious
For me, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner was soooooooo intriguing (ouch dnfree! I was a young kid). I had a father that could have been Spencer Tracey (sorry, not an ounce of Katherine Hepburn in mom). It made me imagine, and discuss, with my dad if I brought home a black boyfriend. Good discussions. I thought Mr. Poitier was the most sophisticated and wonderful actor of that time.
Thanks!!!! Loved this
realbtl
This old white guy saw In the Heat of the Night when it was released and said All Right. What a fabulous movie and cast. Rod Steiger (sp?) was also great. The whole thing just worked.
Miss Bianca
@The Thin Black Duke: How is that one, by the way? Haygood mentions it and it’s on my aforementioned list now.
Oh, along with Buck and the Preacher.
Ruckus
A great man, Mr. Poitier made his mark and left an indelible impression.
And the world is a far better place for it.
Brachiator
One of the things that made this scene and the movie so great was that Detective Tibbs was not there to make the white people feel good about themselves or to soften their bigotry. He could barely hold back his disdain for the ignorant yokels and their dangerously backwards customs.
And there is something about the name Endicott. Of course someone like that deserved a slap.
Refreshing my memory about this film, I ran across this little tidbit in Wikipedia;
It makes a huge difference that they got this right. It is a pleasure just watching Poitier move through the landscape of the scenes. He had a wonderful screen presence.
Avery Brooks did just fine in Deep Space Nine.
A great tribute to Poitier.
Thanks
zhena gogolia
Blackboard Jungle. A Patch of Blue is a dumb movie but he is incredibly good in it. Same for The Defiant Ones. Same for Lilies of the Field. Dumb movies, great Poitier. (Blackboard Jungle isn’t dumb.)
FelonyGovt
Great tribute! As a young girl I saw both Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and To Sir With Love in the movie theater. I remember him as so handsome and such a commanding presence (and even at 12 or 13 I understood that the fiancee in Guess Who’s Coming was a ninny who did not deserve him)
ETA Zhena reminds me that I saw A Patch of Blue as well. Agree it was dumb but he was, as usual, great in it.
Chetan Murthy
@Brachiator: Apropos of, this talk by Ted Kim about racism in computer graphics recapitulates the history of racism in film that led to the racism in computer graphics. Fascinating and troubling. I have to say, there were parts where I started getting a little teary, not b/c I’ve ever been in films, but b/c …. so goddamn long, and it’s only getting addressed now.
youtube.com/watch?v=ROuE8xYLpX8&t=1s
TaMara
Thank you for this. It was a beautiful tribute.
Poitier was a damn fine actor and director. And he made it look easy.
japa21
@realbtl: I was 20 when it came out and in college. IIRC, the was a burst of applause when this particular scene came on the screen. And that included some from a few of us white folks.
A Good Woman
@Brachiator:
second that emotion on Avery Brooks. DS9 was an excellent entry in the ST universe, if perennially underrated.
A Poitier movie I need to see is Brother John I saw a clip of him with Will Geer as Geer starts figuring out what is up with John.
NotMax
Brother John. Gets an ill-deserved bad rap, IMHO. Not without flaws, as both a final edit and as his character being a quasi-nebulous enigma but as the saying goes, even the Rock of Gibraltar has its faults.
Another Scott
Thank you for this excellent essay. It’s too easy for us to forget that exemplary people had to break down American systems that were exclusionary for far too long. It wasn’t enough for him to be a fine actor – he had to carry those all other burdens too.
Cheers,
Scott.
TaMara
Slightly off-topic, I’m watching Nothing But A Man with Ivan Dixon, a contemporary and friend of Poitier’s – who was also an extremely talented actor and director. You might remember him as Sgt.Kinchloe on Hogan’s Heroes, but he had a solid career and, at least everything I’ve seen of him, reflected the same values as Poitier in choosing roles.
More about him here in his obituary in the Guardian.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us
@zhena gogolia: Yeah that whole era of film I’m thin on viewing. I’ve seen the 70s era blockbusters and from the 80s on I was old enough to see whatever I wanted. Then I’ve explored the golden age of Hollywood stuff but the late 50s through the mid 70s are an era of film I’ve only scratched the surface on.
UncleEbeneezer
I’m not sure if I’ve ever actually seen a SP movie. I know of InTheHeat and GuessWho’s…but never saw either of them. Which others are most worth checking out?
kindness
I think my first Portier movie was To Sir With Love. Yea I was a kid in the 60’s, teen in the 70’s.
Another Scott
In other news, Twitter seems to be down.
Maybe VVP is testing out his nefarious internet tools??
Cheers,
Scott.
MazeDancer
Heartthrob. Gotta face it, and shallow though it may be to say about such a smart, talented man, he was just so very, very handsome.
scav
@Brachiator: Just because Avery Brooks did fine is no reason to skip over what could have been a very compelling captain. It’s not one and done.
geg6
Awesome post. I looooooooved Sydney Poitier ever since I was a child and saw To Sir with Love and In the Heat of the Night. I thought he was so good and I loved his voice. And he was probably the first movie star I had a crush on. Such a handsome man. I was probably about 10 years old. Later, he directed Stir Crazy, a silly but very funny Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder buddy film.
TaMara
@UncleEbeneezer: In The Heat Of The Night is one of my favorites.
I have Lillies Of The Field on my list, I’m sorry to say, I’ve never seen it, but from everything I’ve read, I’d put that on my list.
White & Gold Purgatorian
@The Thin Black Duke: We’ve been spending a lot of pandemic evenings with my 90+ mom, who watches movies on Grit TV. Had never seen Duel at Diablo before but now I find it kind of irresistible. Even knowing how it all turns out, I would watch it again and again. Poitier does kind of steal the show, and save the day in the last battle. The racial subtext of the story isn’t found in too many western movies and the scene with Sidney Poitier smiling and playing with the mixed race baby (who is at the heart of the story) is one of my favorites.
pika
Have you ever read Percival Everett’s I am Not Sidney Poitier? The protagonist is named Not Sidney Poitier, and Everett rewrites so many Poitier films into the novel, including Lilies of the Field and The Defiant Ones.
zhena gogolia
@TaMara: nothing but a man is a great film
CarolPW
I’ve often wondered if it would have been much harder when In the Heat of the Night was filmed for an American-born black man to smack a white man so immediately and naturally.
Chetan Murthy
@CarolPW: It’s a good question. I know that slavery in the Caribbean was even more brutal (and deadly) than in the US, but I’ve never read anything about the cultural legacy it left behind, imprinted on the families and spirits of the descendants of slaves. It’s an excellent question.
Brachiator
@scav:
I love, love, love Star Trek. I have no idea why you would think I might have some mental quota of captains. I just enjoy praising Brooks for his work.
Another actor who I think is great, Christopher Plummer was wonderful in Star Trek 6.
But I would see Poitier more as a muthafuka of a Fleet Admiral than a captain.
Brachiator
It was noted previously, but TCM ran some Poitier movies on January 15, and will show more on February 15.
The schedule.
Enjoy!
Sure Lurkalot
This is a wonderful memorial to Sidney Poitier. To Sir With Love was a favorite of mine coming of age in the 60’s. He was such an elegant, consummate actor.
One movie I really like that he’s wasn’t even in? Six Degrees of Separation. Even absent, he was pivotal to the story.
MisterDancer
Congratulations! And an awesome first Full Time Front Pager Post!
To the TREK question: The Original Series actually had a number of Black Men who guest started in creditable dramatic roles that I could see Mister Poitier filling with dignity. He would, of course, have made a fine Captain for any Trek show…
…and we know this, because of my secret guilty pleasure role of his, in SNEAKERS. He’s part of an amazing cast in an overlooked gem of a movie, showing a balance of humor and badassitry just right for any Starship Captain.
Thank you, again for this remembrance!
Prometheus Shrugged
I had a funny “brush with greatness” moment with Mr. Poitier. He was one of my brother’s medical patients for awhile, and I bumped into him a few moments after he had come out of my brother’s office. I looked alot like my brother at the time–people often still think we’re twins–and he said “How’d you get out here so fast. I thought I just left you.” I don’t know who was more flummoxed. Me, bumping into Mr. Tibbs in the flesh (and being addressed with a bizarre question by Sidney Poitier himself!) or him, apparently seeing double. After we figured out the source of confusion, we had a brief laugh and exchanged pleasantries. He seemed the epitome of a distinguished gentleman–an impression confirmed by my brother.
scav
@Brachiator: I didn’t necessarily assume you had a problem with it, it’s more that I didn’t feel comfortable with implications about how the statement was phrased. Poitier’s and Brooks performances are — or at least should be — no more necessarily linked than Poitier’s and Stewart’s. That’s all.
Baud
@MisterDancer:
Sneakers was cool before movies about tech were cool.
cliosfanboy
I remember a different sort of movies in Times Square
Helen
In 1968, I was a sophomore. When ‘In the Heat of the Night’ came to our neighborhood movie theater, the nuns sent the whole high school to the afternoon movie. Along with most of my classmates, I was very naive about race. This movie was very much a window into a different world. I think it did change my awareness about race.
cain
@The Thin Black Duke:
If it came down to spending an evening with Obama or Poitier – it’s Poitier hands down.
Great first post, my friend!
Miss Bianca
@Chetan Murthy: Hapgood’s theory (from the Colorization book I mentioned ) is that both Poitier and Harry Belafonte were able to break through a lot of barriers – mental barriers included – *because* they were Caribbean. That the poverty in Caribbean countries was offset for black Caribbeans by a kind of mental independence from their countries having been able to overthrow slavery earlier than the US – or had it outlawed earlier.
ETA: I dunno, I’m kind of silly on a couple glasses of mead right now, I would have to look it up again to give you a full exegesis on his reasoning.
CarolPW
@Miss Bianca: So they might be better able to realistically smack that white motherfucker than someone like Morgan Freeman would.
cain
I have no clue how those two ended up having the dynamics they have between them. It blows my mind. They don’t run in each others circles or were they friends. But on screen they made the relationship believable.
cain
@Brachiator:
Loved him. He just oozed contempt. Although the character isn’t that much different that way from his character in Deloris Clayborn. He knows how to play an asshole. :D
The Thin Black Duke
Thanks, everybody ! I’m genuinely humbled and honored.
Brachiator
@Chetan Murthy:
Watched this during my lunch break. I knew about the Shirley cards, but this really expanded my understanding of this issue.
It reminded me a bit of the new Google 6 phone. Google explicitly noted how they tried to improve how the camera depicted people of color, but many reviewers went out of their way to avoid talking about this or shooting examples. And one reviewer on YouTube said “I’m sure Apple already handled this.”
NotMax
@Brachiator
As was noted here a while back, TCM planning to air a two-day tribute on February 19th and 20th. The latter date would have been his 95th birthday.
stacib
@CarolPW: If you watch the Oprah interview, he talked about this role and the slap. He says that he told the movie folks that if they wanted him as the actor in that movie, that slap would have to happen a nanosecond after Endicott slapped Tibbs. According to the interview, he felt the weight of the entire Black community was upon his shoulders – watching his behavior, way of dress, etc. He wouldn’t be able to square having the authority of a detective while being slapped and not being able to respond in kind. To him, it was not a “real” outcome that a person with his position would stand for being pushed around, and in his roles, he tried to play roles as he thought they would play out in real life.
Sloane Ranger
@Miss Bianca: I think the fact that these Caribbean countries were majority black, that there were no formal Jim Crow laws and some black/mixed race people, a small minority to be true, were able to gain positions of some power and influence played a part. The British version of the programme, ” Who Do You Think You Are” has shown their subjects ancestors being able to join elite clubs and becoming significant landowners. This may have contributed to a sense of self confidence that Black Americans, who had been subject to Jim Crow didn’t share.
Madeleine
First post—great! Thanks for the heartfelt remembrance of Sidney Poitier. It speaks to me. It also makes me think again about In the Heat of the Night. Poitier as Tibbs knows so strongly who he is that he is ready to act in each difficult situation he finds himself in, and the Steiger character especially is completely flummoxed. The tension of that relationship is the movie for me.
Tehanu
My husband used to play tennis with the actor Bill Macy at a place in West L.A. I went over to pick him up one afternoon and as we were talking to Bill, who should come up to chat but Sidney Poitier. He was so gorgeous (and tall!) in person that I was practically dumbstruck, but he was really nice and made me feel completely comfortable after the first moments. I honestly can’t remember anything any of us said, but I’ll never forget how amazing he was.
phdesmond
Good posting, lots to read and see and think about. epiphytics.
Matt McIrvin
@Chetan Murthy: The thing that gets me about that talk is that when he talks about exactly how skin models designed around white people get black people’s skin wrong–too much subsurface scattering, not enough specularity–it strikes me that getting black skin right might actually be computationally easier. Specularity is not as hard a problem. But the models are going to all this effort to get it wrong, because of where the effort is focused.
rikyrah
Great tribute ??????
He really did change things. The humanity that he brought to the screen
The variety of his roles
It’s amazing that he did it
rikyrah
Even his blacksploitation movies were a cut above.
And, I love A Warm December.
My mother’s favorite movie ever was Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
Chetan Murthy
@Miss Bianca: Thank you for this. This is really interesting and educational. That the big difference is that Black Caribbeans lived far longer without the Jim Crow that Black Americans lived under, is the difference, is interesting. Maybe someday Black Americans in places like California that are majority-minority, can get that same sense of freedom. We can hope ….
@Matt McIrvin: The sense of “jesus, they weren’t even trying” is so palpable. And so, the sense of “finally someone cares” is also palpable.
Anya
A lovely tribute to a legend and one of the best humans. I love everything Sidney Poitier. Incidentally, both sets of my (white and black) grandparents stan the “elegant Mr. Poitier”. I’ve watched my first Poitier move with my grandpa. With everything he did, he strived to make the world a better place.
Antonius
Great post, man. I grew up “To Sir With Love” on the 4:30 movie on channel 9 in NYC.
As I became a teenager and saw more of his films, I didn’t until later understand all the barriers he was breaking with every role, but I did understand that I was watching characters who could teach me how to be a man, and that there was an even greater man playing the characters.
topclimber
I also salute the Duke on a great start to front-paging.
Sidney P and Ruby Dee in A Raisin in the Sun started turning this white boy’s head around about race relations at a not too-late age. Look, black PEOPLE on the screen.
Kathleen
What a beautiful post. Thank you.
Laura Too
So lovely, thank you. I had such a crush on him growing up. I remember sitting in my Grandma’s chair with her watching A Patch of Blue. I was maybe 6? I’m sure if I watched it now it would be quite different but at the time just his presence, voice, manner had such an effect on me. To Sir With Love and Blackboard Jungle took me away from where I was. You have a gift, I appreciate you sharing it here.
Matt McIrvin
@Chetan Murthy: He also focuses on the anxiety that white people have even talking about and studying this–are we being racist by focusing on differences? etc. And some of that is a refusal to confront privileges and admit bias, but there’s also all the fraught history of racial stereotyping, mockery and minstrelsy, which nobody wants to touch with a ten-foot pole, and it can cause a desire to avoid depicting non-white people at all. But of course the real long-term solution there is to hire more black people, hire people of other races in the field, diversify the people doing it.
Matt McIrvin
@Chetan Murthy: …the other thing about specularity is that, as with the other things he discussed, it probably has as much to do with white-centered beauty standards as the inherent physics of skin. When they’re lighting white models, I know they usually try to minimize the amount of specular shine on skin in favor of that diffuse glow, and there are cosmetics designed to keep that down too.