Sidney Poitier, the first Black man to win an Oscar, is credited with opening doors for a wide range of other Black artists over the course of his six-decade career.
Following his passing on January 6, 1994, tributes to the legend flooded in. Former president Barack Obama referred to Sidney as having “a special talent and exemplified dignity and grace”.
He was a compassionate man who opened doors for all of us that had been closed for years, a friend later remarked. Denzel Washington, Sidney’s co-star, described it as an honor.
Sidney Poitier played his first significant role in the 1955 movie Blackboard Jungle. After that, he made another 55 appearances in films and TV shows. He will be remembered for assisting Hollywood in removing racial barriers.
The Bahamian-American actor wed Canadian actress Joanna Shimkus in 1976, and as the saying goes, “no man succeeds without a good lady by his side. ”.
When he initially met Shimkus, he was already married, had four children, and was having an affair.
Poitier, the youngest of seven children, was raised by his father on a farm on Cat Island in the Bahamas. He lived there the first ten years of his life. Poitier unexpectedly arrived three months early and acquired US citizenship as a result. The family would travel to Miami to sell their goods there.
He first settled in Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, before moving to America at the age of 15, where he lied about his age to join the military as a young man.
After leaving the army, he worked as a dishwasher before being chosen for a role with the American Negro Theatre in Harlem, New York. The aspiring actor moved on to another audition after his first. At age 18, he was informed that his accent prevented him from becoming an actor and that he “could hardly read”.
He purchased a radio to mimic the accents he heard, read every newspaper and magazine he could get his hands on, and despite receiving a scathing response, asked an elderly Jewish waiter at the restaurant where he worked as a dishwasher to teach him to read and expand his vocabulary.
After another year and a half, he returned to the production company for another audition and was hired for the show, beginning a career that would earn him numerous accolades.
More than ten years after his first appearance on our screens, he won his first Academy Award for the film “Lilies of the Field.”.
His role in “The Lost Man,” where he first met Joanna Shimkus, was possibly his most significant performance.
The film was released in 1969, four years following the divorce of Poitier and his first wife Juanita Hardy.
He had been in a nine-year relationship with an actress named Diahann Carroll, and that year marked the end of that relationship.
The first union between Sidney and Juanita Hardy lasted 15 years. They were wed in 1950, and their divorce was finalized in 1965. He nevertheless kept his marriage to Joanna Shimkus, with whom he had two daughters, intact.
I suppose we were meant to be [together,” Joanna said in 1998. ”.
Between 1972 and 2010, Shimkus took a break from acting to raise their daughters Anika and Sidney, who have since followed in their parents’ footsteps.
“Black Irish” was directed by Anika, with Shimkus serving as executive producer. Sidney has also made appearances in Quentin Tarantino movies “Veronica Mars” and “Death Proof”.
In a recent interview, Poitier stated that his wife had assisted him in realizing the importance of regularly expressing their love for one another. ”.
The two people in their relationship are “my wife and my children,” according to Sidney, who said as much to People in 2016. Shimkus added another reason for their long-lasting union: “We’ve been together for 49 years, and I’m a good cook. Every night I make dinner. I take very good care of him”.
He received an honorary Academy Award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and a knighthood from the Queen in recognition of his contributions to the entertainment industry. Despite all of his achievements, he never forgot the importance of family.
The famous actor enjoyed spending time with his wife, ex-wife, six daughters, eight grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
There are many examples of these relationships throughout the history of relationships between people of different races.
However, Joanna claimed that she and her husband had no issues with it.
I was raised in Canada, not America, and never really encountered prejudice. I just didn’t feel those things. No issues have ever arisen for us. It’s possible that we live very quietly. It may just be how things are by default, but I’m not sure. But I’ve never thought of him as a Black man. I knew what race he was, but I thought he was a great man. She called herself “a wonderful person” in Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light”.
Allow Sidney Poitier to be at peace. You will continue to exist in people’s hearts all over the world as a result of your talent, grace, and tenacity in the face of difficulty.
Please spread the word.
