As a trailblazing actor to generations of Black performers in Hollywood, Sidney Poitier often spoke about his larger off-screen role.
Poitier, who died Thursday …
As a trailblazing actor to generations of Black performers in Hollywood, Sidney Poitier often spoke about his larger off-screen role. Poitier, who died Thursday at the age of 94, entered the film industry at a time when portrayals of African Americans were generally stereotypical. But Poitier, who refused to play such caricatures, emerged as a matinee idol, an Oscar-winning actor and one of the most potent and graceful screen presences of his time, paving the way for countless who followed him. In interviews and in his 2000 autobiography, “The Measure of a Man,” Poitier spoke and wrote about the hardships, responsibilities and importance of his historic ascent in Hollywood. Here are excerpts of Poitier in his own words through the years. “There was almost no frame of reference for us except as stereotypical, one-dimensional characters…. Not only was I not going to do that, but I had in mind what was expected of me — not just what other Blacks expected but what my mother and father expected. And what I expected of myself…. To walk through my life as my own man.” — From a 2000 interview with Oprah Winfrey. “OK listen, you think I’m so inconsequential? Then try this on for size.
