Happy Atheist Forum

General => Obituaries => Topic started by: Tom62 on January 08, 2022, 07:13:58 AM

Title: Sidney Poitier
Post by: Tom62 on January 08, 2022, 07:13:58 AM
Sidney Poitier, one of the most groundbreaking inspirational actors in cinema, died at an age of 94.

https://apnews.com/article/sidney-poitier-dead-214e66b7e52909bdc64465e9ff4a1339
Title: Re: Sidney Poitier
Post by: Tank on January 08, 2022, 07:36:45 AM
Always remembered in Guess who's coming to dinner? I remember thinking just a stupid racism was when I first saw that.
Title: Re: Sidney Poitier
Post by: billy rubin on January 08, 2022, 12:51:36 PM
he was a master

1958 with tony curtis as escaped black and white convicts chained together was a masterpiece of racial awareness way back when

Title: Re: Sidney Poitier
Post by: Tom62 on January 08, 2022, 04:37:34 PM
Another great movie in which he starred was "Patch of Blue".
Title: Re: Sidney Poitier
Post by: billy rubin on January 09, 2022, 01:33:13 AM
ill never forget this one



saw it one time when i was a kid. never forgot it
Title: Re: Sidney Poitier
Post by: Ecurb Noselrub on January 11, 2022, 09:03:19 PM
My favorite was when he played Mr. Tibbs in The Heat of the Night. He and Rod Steiger together knocked it out of the park. Won Best Picture.
Title: Re: Sidney Poitier
Post by: Icarus on January 12, 2022, 04:01:06 AM
I use the term, Mister Poitier, out of respect for an outstanding individual.

I listened, today, to a replay of an NPR interview of Sidney Poitier from 2002.  His diction, pronunciation, and verbal cadence was, to say the least, outstanding. How did a black man from a near obscure Island become so eloquent?  He told us. He listened to the radio and practiced endlessly to speak in the same disciplined way that nationally famous newscasters spoke. He achieved his skill decisively.

It may be familiar to some that another, long ago, celebrity did something like that.  Sugar Ray Leonard was a sensational boxer who won Olympic medals and professional championships. He was a young black kid from Baltimore who had a drive toward what he believed was excellence, not only in boxing but in his quest for respect in society. He knew that his language would keep him from becoming equally respected as a man, not only a boxer.  He daily stood before a mirror and read to himself., Again and again and again, he tried to form his words, inflections, and content to graduate from the ghetto language with which he grew up. He too used the language skills of nationally famous newscasters to attempt to emulate.   He succeeded very well on both accounts, language and boxing excellence.

Both Sugar Ray and Sidney Poitier must have encountered some flak from his peers.  It was a no- no for a black man to "talk white".  Both of them excelled far beyond what the fates had assigned to them.   

Here's a salute for Sidney Poitier, a man of outstanding achievement and undeniable talent.