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[Poitier] I was not expected to live.
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I was born two months premature.
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When it was determined
that I would not survive…
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My father came back to the house…
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With a shoebox.
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They were prepared to tuck me away.
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I believe that my life has had
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more than a few wonderful,
indescribable turns.
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[Poitier]
The world I knew was quite simple.
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I didn't know there was
such a thing as electricity.
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I didn't know that there was
such a thing as
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having water come into the house
through a pipe.
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I learned by observation
what the world was like.
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I saw creatures. I saw birds.
15
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And I had to figure out for myself
what they were.
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[birds calling]
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I was the youngest of all the children.
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And, uh, I caught the most hell,
of course, from them.
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But I was... I was, uh, the youngest
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and, um, who was very often left at home,
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uh, when my folks went to the fields.
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My folks were tomato farmers.
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There was very little schooling.
Very little.
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Everything I knew in terms of values,
in terms of right and wrong,
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00:02:41,286 --> 00:02:46,083
in terms of who I was, value-wise,
had to come from my parents.
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I was always watching them.
27
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Their treatment of each other.
How they cared for each other.
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How they behaved with their friends.
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00:02:56,176 --> 00:02:59,179
How they behaved
with other people in the village.
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And I would behave
as close to that as I could
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because I would see the results
of their behavior.
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The Florida government put an embargo
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on tomatoes coming from the Bahamas.
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My father's business fell apart.
35
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So he sent my mother,
and she took me, to Nassau
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00:03:21,910 --> 00:03:24,288
to find a place that we could afford.
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As we're heading into the harbor,
I saw something moving.
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And it looked like a beetle
coming down the street.
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And I asked my mother, "What is that?"
40
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And she said, "That's a car."
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I said, "What is a car?"
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And she described it to me.
I was fascinated.
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As we walked the streets,
I saw glass windows
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with all kinds of wonderful things
behind the glass.
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But then I saw a woman.
46
00:03:59,198 --> 00:04:04,953
But she is standing opposite another
woman who looks exactly like her.
47
00:04:05,662 --> 00:04:09,958
And whatever the woman is doing,
the other one is doing.
48
00:04:10,918 --> 00:04:12,419
Obviously, there was a mirror.
49
00:04:12,503 --> 00:04:15,631
But I hadn't... I didn't know
there were such things as mirrors.
50
00:04:15,714 --> 00:04:19,051
Do you hear me?
I didn't know what a mirror was.
51
00:04:20,093 --> 00:04:22,262
I never thought about what I looked like.
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I would only see what I saw.
53
00:04:26,225 --> 00:04:29,811
There was one white person on Cat Island.
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When I got to Nassau,
I saw other white people,
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but they were in the minority.
56
00:04:36,735 --> 00:04:41,073
Black people were 90% of the population.
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00:04:43,033 --> 00:04:46,787
I ran with a group of guys
who were pretty much my age.
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00:04:46,870 --> 00:04:49,456
Within a matter of months,
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00:04:49,540 --> 00:04:51,959
three or four of those guys wound up
in a reform school.
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00:04:52,042 --> 00:04:53,585
And my dad decided
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00:04:53,669 --> 00:04:57,089
that I was probably heading for
some kind of trouble.
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I was sent to Miami, Florida.
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00:05:03,846 --> 00:05:08,392
I left the Bahamas at 15
with this sense of myself.
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00:05:08,475 --> 00:05:12,563
I had ten and a half years of it
on Cat Island.
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00:05:12,646 --> 00:05:15,190
Then I had four and a half years
of it in Nassau.
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00:05:15,274 --> 00:05:18,777
So I arrived in Miami, Florida,
with a sense of myself.
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00:05:19,611 --> 00:05:24,992
And from the time I got off the boat,
Florida began to say to me,
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"You're not who you think you are."
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When you grew up
in a community on Cat Island,
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00:05:31,874 --> 00:05:34,001
where everybody's Black,
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00:05:34,084 --> 00:05:37,212
everything you know
and see around you is powerful
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and good and nurturing,
73
00:05:39,298 --> 00:05:40,549
and it's Black.
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00:05:40,632 --> 00:05:44,303
But there's no concept of, really, race.
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00:05:44,386 --> 00:05:47,848
Because that was his worldview
and his personal view,
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00:05:47,931 --> 00:05:51,226
he moved through
the entire world space that way.
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He just always thought
that he was who he was.
78
00:05:54,354 --> 00:05:58,692
And, you know, there were times
when that got him into trouble.
79
00:05:59,359 --> 00:06:04,615
I was sent to live with my-my brother,
the only relative we had there.
80
00:06:05,407 --> 00:06:09,119
He got me a job at a place called
the Burdines department store
81
00:06:09,203 --> 00:06:11,622
in Miami, Florida, to make deliveries.
82
00:06:11,705 --> 00:06:14,416
And, uh, I was told the lady's name
and... [stammers]
83
00:06:14,499 --> 00:06:18,504
So I got on the bike,
and I went to Miami Beach.
84
00:06:18,587 --> 00:06:23,967
And I got to the address,
and I walked up to the front door,
85
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and I rang the bell.
86
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[doorbell rings]
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Then the lady of the house came out,
and she said,
88
00:06:30,599 --> 00:06:32,726
"What are you doing at the front door?"
89
00:06:33,477 --> 00:06:39,191
And I said… [chuckling]
… "I'm here to deliver this package."
90
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She said, "Get around to the back door."
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And she slammed the door in my face.
92
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Well, I'm new to this whole
experience of race in the US.
93
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I just couldn't understand it.
94
00:06:53,247 --> 00:06:56,333
Why would I have to go to the back door,
and she's standing right here?
95
00:06:56,416 --> 00:07:00,379
But she slammed the door in my face,
and I don't know what to do.
96
00:07:00,462 --> 00:07:05,467
And my decision was,
I put it right there on the doorstep.
97
00:07:05,551 --> 00:07:09,680
After the evening was done,
I went home to my brother's house.
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00:07:10,889 --> 00:07:13,100
I got there. It's dark.
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I'm approaching the house.
There's no lights.
100
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And I wondered why there was no lights,
but I walked up to the front door.
101
00:07:21,066 --> 00:07:23,193
His wife opened the door and grabbed me
102
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and pulled me in, to the floor,
103
00:07:25,487 --> 00:07:26,905
and slammed the door.
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00:07:26,989 --> 00:07:28,073
[inhales sharply]
105
00:07:29,116 --> 00:07:34,162
And I... She said, "What did you do?
What did you do today?"
106
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And I said, "I-I didn't do anything.
What... What did I do?"
107
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She said, "The Klan was here.
What did you do today?"
108
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I decided I had to get out of town.
I wanted to get out of town.
109
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[inhales deeply]
110
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I had put a few pieces of clothing
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into the dry cleaner.
112
00:08:08,488 --> 00:08:11,950
I went to this place.
It's in a totally white community.
113
00:08:12,534 --> 00:08:16,121
On the way back,
I go to what would be the bus stop,
114
00:08:16,205 --> 00:08:17,998
and the buses have stopped running.
115
00:08:20,042 --> 00:08:23,212
A car stopped and pulled right up to me,
116
00:08:23,295 --> 00:08:25,714
and it's loaded down with cops.
117
00:08:26,590 --> 00:08:27,799
[tires screech]
118
00:08:28,759 --> 00:08:31,178
And they asked me, "What are you doing?"
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00:08:31,261 --> 00:08:35,349
I said I was just trying
to hitch a ride back to town.
120
00:08:35,432 --> 00:08:38,184
"What are you doing here?"
And I explained everything.
121
00:08:38,809 --> 00:08:41,104
He pulls out his pistol,
122
00:08:41,188 --> 00:08:46,610
and he leans it
outside the window of the car.
123
00:08:48,362 --> 00:08:51,406
And he put it right up against my head.
124
00:08:52,741 --> 00:08:53,742
There.
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00:08:55,869 --> 00:08:58,121
And he said to his compatriots,
126
00:08:59,039 --> 00:09:03,335
"What should we do with this person?"
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00:09:03,919 --> 00:09:05,629
They didn't use the word "person."
128
00:09:06,463 --> 00:09:08,590
He said, "If we let you go",
129
00:09:08,674 --> 00:09:14,012
you think you could walk all the way
back to where you came from,
130
00:09:15,389 --> 00:09:18,100
"uh, without looking back?
You think you can do that?"
131
00:09:19,726 --> 00:09:24,064
And I said, "Yeah, I can do that."
132
00:09:24,982 --> 00:09:29,111
He said, "If you look back once,
we're gonna shoot you."
133
00:09:29,194 --> 00:09:30,946
[car engine starts]
134
00:09:32,573 --> 00:09:36,159
For the next 50 or more blocks,
135
00:09:36,243 --> 00:09:42,040
every time I passed a window,
I would shift my eyes only,
136
00:09:42,124 --> 00:09:48,088
and I would pick up that police car
at the back of me.
137
00:09:53,510 --> 00:09:55,304
And they stayed there…
138
00:09:59,141 --> 00:10:03,228
All the way back to the little street
139
00:10:04,479 --> 00:10:07,858
where my relatives were living.
140
00:10:09,651 --> 00:10:12,696
And at that point,
they just simply drove on.
141
00:10:14,239 --> 00:10:17,659
Within a matter of a few months,
142
00:10:17,743 --> 00:10:23,373
I had to kind of switch
my whole view of life.
143
00:10:25,209 --> 00:10:28,045
I began to learn who had the power.
144
00:10:28,128 --> 00:10:33,509
And I would witness the,
uh, application of that power.
145
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I knew by then I had to get out of town.
146
00:10:48,732 --> 00:10:50,275
I knew I had to get out.
147
00:10:50,817 --> 00:10:54,321
I didn't know that I would ever find
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00:10:54,404 --> 00:10:57,407
a place different from Florida.
149
00:11:00,369 --> 00:11:03,580
I heard from some guys
that there was a place
150
00:11:03,664 --> 00:11:07,167
where we had
a different set of opportunities.
151
00:11:07,251 --> 00:11:08,252
New York.
152
00:11:11,672 --> 00:11:14,216
I got to New York
at the Greyhound bus station
153
00:11:14,299 --> 00:11:16,677
at 50th Street and 8th Avenue.
154
00:11:16,760 --> 00:11:19,638
And I walked out on the street,
155
00:11:20,305 --> 00:11:23,308
and I'm just amazed at this place.
156
00:11:24,059 --> 00:11:26,979
And an African American guy
walked up to me.
157
00:11:27,062 --> 00:11:29,147
He says, "How are you doing?"
And I said, "Fine."
158
00:11:29,231 --> 00:11:30,524
He says, "Where are you going?"
159
00:11:30,607 --> 00:11:33,944
I said, "Could you tell me
how I can get to Harlem?"
160
00:11:34,027 --> 00:11:35,237
He said, "Oh, yes."
161
00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:38,782
He says, "You go down there,
and you take the A train."
162
00:11:40,826 --> 00:11:44,204
I'm very skeptical now
because he said, "Go down there.
163
00:11:44,288 --> 00:11:46,373
There's some steps going down
into the ground."
164
00:11:49,626 --> 00:11:52,921
So I said, "Okay." [laughing]
165
00:11:53,005 --> 00:11:56,633
I... I very gingerly kind of went
down the steps.
166
00:11:56,717 --> 00:12:00,179
Then I heard this rumbling, rumbling up.
167
00:12:00,262 --> 00:12:03,557
And in no time, this train came...
[imitates whooshing sound]
168
00:12:03,640 --> 00:12:05,934
["Take the 'A' Train" playing]
169
00:12:14,359 --> 00:12:17,529
Uh, it got to 116th Street, and I got off.
170
00:12:17,613 --> 00:12:19,865
And I followed people
who were getting off,
171
00:12:19,948 --> 00:12:21,283
and I walked up the steps.
172
00:12:21,366 --> 00:12:24,286
And there I was in Harlem.
173
00:12:24,369 --> 00:12:25,495
Whoa!
174
00:12:31,126 --> 00:12:33,420
[song continues]
175
00:12:35,797 --> 00:12:37,717
Everywhere I looked
there were some Black people.
176
00:12:37,758 --> 00:12:39,678
I would say, "Hello."
They would say hello to me.
177
00:12:39,760 --> 00:12:41,762
I was just thrilled.
178
00:12:41,845 --> 00:12:44,181
[song continues]
179
00:12:49,895 --> 00:12:53,440
Black artists were just very present
in Harlem.
180
00:12:53,524 --> 00:12:55,943
And you were just aware
of the greatness that was around.
181
00:12:56,026 --> 00:12:57,361
You know, Ellington.
182
00:12:57,444 --> 00:12:59,488
Lena Horne. Billie Holiday.
183
00:12:59,571 --> 00:13:01,949
You know, I mean,
superstars were walking the land.
184
00:13:02,032 --> 00:13:05,160
You knew what the measure
of an artist was then.
185
00:13:05,244 --> 00:13:08,038
It was right there in front of you,
like, no filter.
186
00:13:08,121 --> 00:13:10,832
So, this is the way in which this era
187
00:13:10,916 --> 00:13:13,377
was waiting for Sidney Poitier.
188
00:13:14,127 --> 00:13:16,064
[interviewer] You were here
in search of fame and fortune.
189
00:13:16,088 --> 00:13:18,924
- I was here in... in... in search.
- [interviewer] In search.
190
00:13:19,007 --> 00:13:22,052
[Poitier] I must say that my search
was fruitless for quite a long time.
191
00:13:22,135 --> 00:13:25,806
At 49th Street and Broadway,
192
00:13:25,889 --> 00:13:27,808
there was a... a bar and grill.
193
00:13:28,308 --> 00:13:30,561
In the window,
it said, "Dishwasher wanted."
194
00:13:30,644 --> 00:13:33,188
I walked in.
He said, "When can you start?"
195
00:13:33,772 --> 00:13:36,066
I said, "I can start right now."
[chuckles]
196
00:13:36,149 --> 00:13:37,484
And he hired me.
197
00:13:38,569 --> 00:13:41,655
Not only did they put me to work,
they were paying four bucks a night.
198
00:13:41,738 --> 00:13:43,323
And I could eat.
199
00:13:43,407 --> 00:13:45,701
When I finished the first night's work,
200
00:13:46,869 --> 00:13:48,453
I went to the bus station.
201
00:13:49,037 --> 00:13:52,249
I went to sleep in the toilet.
202
00:13:52,332 --> 00:13:55,419
There used to be pay toilets in them,
and it cost a nickel.
203
00:13:55,502 --> 00:13:58,255
So I put a nickel in. [Mumbles]
And I got in.
204
00:13:58,338 --> 00:14:02,009
I put down the seat. I sat there,
put my feet up against the door,
205
00:14:02,092 --> 00:14:03,260
and I would sleep.
206
00:14:03,343 --> 00:14:05,888
[chuckling]
Uncomfortably, needless to say.
207
00:14:07,264 --> 00:14:08,891
On one particular evening,
208
00:14:08,974 --> 00:14:11,894
I'm sitting right next to the kitchen,
209
00:14:11,977 --> 00:14:13,854
and I'm reading a paper.
210
00:14:13,937 --> 00:14:17,065
And one of the waiters looked over
and saw me sitting there.
211
00:14:17,149 --> 00:14:20,068
I said, "I'm trying to learn to read
better than I can read."
212
00:14:20,152 --> 00:14:23,238
And he said, "Would you like it
if I read with you?"
213
00:14:23,906 --> 00:14:26,200
Every night,
214
00:14:26,992 --> 00:14:30,996
that man, that Jewish waiter
215
00:14:31,663 --> 00:14:34,917
came over to where I would read the paper
216
00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:41,924
and sit there with me until I really
began learning to read.
217
00:14:42,007 --> 00:14:45,928
This was like the beginning
of a journey for me.
218
00:14:46,011 --> 00:14:49,181
If you stop struggling,
people are gonna walk past you.
219
00:14:49,890 --> 00:14:51,767
But if they see you working at it,
220
00:14:51,850 --> 00:14:54,061
somebody's gonna grab you by the hand
221
00:14:54,144 --> 00:14:57,022
and just give you that little lift up
that you need to keep going.
222
00:14:57,731 --> 00:14:58,982
It's always gonna happen.
223
00:15:01,318 --> 00:15:04,363
[Poitier] I was on 125th Street in Harlem,
224
00:15:04,446 --> 00:15:07,574
and I bought a newspaper
called the Amsterdam News...
225
00:15:07,658 --> 00:15:10,244
It was a Black newspaper...
Because it had a want ad page.
226
00:15:10,327 --> 00:15:14,081
On the want ad page were places
that I had gotten jobs from.
227
00:15:14,164 --> 00:15:16,291
Dishwashing jobs, porter jobs,
228
00:15:16,375 --> 00:15:18,752
all kinds of other jobs that I could do.
229
00:15:19,336 --> 00:15:23,090
On the opposite page, it says,
"Actors wanted."
230
00:15:23,674 --> 00:15:28,178
And I said to myself,
"My God. They want actors?
231
00:15:28,262 --> 00:15:31,014
What would I be doing as an actor?"
232
00:15:32,307 --> 00:15:35,269
So I went to this address.
I knocked on the door.
233
00:15:35,352 --> 00:15:37,271
And after a while, a guy came.
234
00:15:37,354 --> 00:15:42,276
He was a mountainous guy. Huge.
Frederick O'Neal was the guy.
235
00:15:43,068 --> 00:15:46,864
I went in. I walked on the stage,
and I turned to page so-and-so.
236
00:15:46,947 --> 00:15:49,950
And he opened another script.
He was sitting in-in the audience.
237
00:15:50,033 --> 00:15:52,703
And he turned the page.
He says, "Now read the part of John."
238
00:15:52,786 --> 00:15:55,581
And I looked, and I saw "John,"
and I said, "Okay."
239
00:15:56,164 --> 00:16:01,587
[slowly] "He said,
'Where are you going?'" [chuckles]
240
00:16:01,670 --> 00:16:04,798
And he... He was quite upset and angry,
241
00:16:04,882 --> 00:16:07,467
and he tossed me out of there and stuff.
242
00:16:07,551 --> 00:16:09,720
He said, "Why don't you just stop
wasting people's time
243
00:16:09,803 --> 00:16:12,181
and go get yourself a job
as a dishwasher or something?"
244
00:16:12,264 --> 00:16:14,766
That's the moment I became an actor,
you see.
245
00:16:15,267 --> 00:16:18,187
I said, "I am going to become an actor.
246
00:16:18,812 --> 00:16:24,443
And when I do, I'm going to come back
and show that man."
247
00:16:24,526 --> 00:16:26,004
[Dick Cavett] You had an accent problem
248
00:16:26,028 --> 00:16:28,047
when you first started to work
in New York, I've read.
249
00:16:28,071 --> 00:16:30,991
Can you show us
what your speech was originally like?
250
00:16:31,074 --> 00:16:35,621
- A line like, uh, "I'm going home."
- Mm-hmm.
251
00:16:35,704 --> 00:16:39,082
Uh, when I was a child,
we would say, "I gwine 'ome."
252
00:16:39,166 --> 00:16:42,085
I was told I had to get rid of it
if I wanted to be an actor.
253
00:16:42,711 --> 00:16:44,421
So I got rid of it myself.
254
00:16:44,922 --> 00:16:47,841
Uh, I bought a radio for $14.
255
00:16:47,925 --> 00:16:51,678
And I would look for a man
named Norman Brokenshire.
256
00:16:51,762 --> 00:16:56,225
Norman Brokenshire was a newsreader.
257
00:16:57,976 --> 00:16:59,478
And he had a magnificent voice.
258
00:17:00,062 --> 00:17:02,731
How do you do, ladies and gentlemen?
How do you do?
259
00:17:02,814 --> 00:17:04,233
This is Norman Brokenshire.
260
00:17:04,316 --> 00:17:08,444
I would listen to his...
And after a while, I would repeat.
261
00:17:08,529 --> 00:17:11,949
You know, I've been in front
of microphones for over 25 years,
262
00:17:12,031 --> 00:17:14,660
and I can tell you
this is a tense business.
263
00:17:14,742 --> 00:17:19,080
And I lost my accent almost completely.
264
00:17:19,164 --> 00:17:21,375
I went out, and I s... bought books,
265
00:17:21,458 --> 00:17:24,377
and I learned
to struggle through lines and stuff.
266
00:17:24,461 --> 00:17:27,631
And I went back, and I took an audition.
267
00:17:27,714 --> 00:17:28,966
And I was accepted.
268
00:17:29,591 --> 00:17:34,805
So I used the theater, I used acting
and acting classes, as a therapy.
269
00:17:36,557 --> 00:17:39,101
I would go there
after working in the Garment District
270
00:17:39,184 --> 00:17:42,563
or any other of the 14,
18 places I did work.
271
00:17:43,397 --> 00:17:44,690
I would go to class at night,
272
00:17:44,773 --> 00:17:47,776
and I would sit and study and do scenes.
273
00:17:47,860 --> 00:17:50,737
At the time, when I was 17, 18 years old,
274
00:17:50,821 --> 00:17:54,575
acting offered me an area
where I could be an exhibitionist,
275
00:17:54,658 --> 00:17:57,202
where I could give vent
to some of my frustrations,
276
00:17:57,286 --> 00:18:01,957
where I could pour out
some of my confusion and other ills
277
00:18:02,666 --> 00:18:04,877
into a fictitious character.
278
00:18:04,960 --> 00:18:08,672
I felt this is something
that gives me a badge of distinction.
279
00:18:08,755 --> 00:18:10,799
I can be many things here,
280
00:18:10,883 --> 00:18:13,510
and the areas of life,
socially and otherwise,
281
00:18:13,594 --> 00:18:15,512
that were then restricted to me
282
00:18:15,596 --> 00:18:20,017
I had ways of retaliating
in this kind of illusion.
283
00:18:21,268 --> 00:18:24,313
- [bell tolling]
- Tyrant, show thy face.
284
00:18:24,396 --> 00:18:25,731
What is thy name?
285
00:18:25,814 --> 00:18:26,940
[bangs]
286
00:18:27,024 --> 00:18:30,485
[Nelson George] I think one of the things
that's been lost is the Black theater.
287
00:18:30,569 --> 00:18:33,113
[laughs] My name's Macbeth.
288
00:18:33,197 --> 00:18:37,534
[George] From probably after
the war all the way into the '80s,
289
00:18:37,618 --> 00:18:39,786
Black theater was the voice of Black art.
290
00:18:39,870 --> 00:18:42,331
American Negro Theatre was a precursor
291
00:18:42,414 --> 00:18:45,417
to the Negro Ensemble Company
and other great theater groups.
292
00:18:47,711 --> 00:18:51,048
And it was a place
where young talent could get on stage
293
00:18:51,632 --> 00:18:52,841
and get their chops up.
294
00:18:52,925 --> 00:18:54,510
Everybody came through Black theater.
295
00:18:54,593 --> 00:18:57,554
It wasn't probably till the '90s
when you could cast a Black actor
296
00:18:57,638 --> 00:18:59,806
who had not been
in the Black theater somewhere.
297
00:18:59,890 --> 00:19:02,518
[Harry Belafonte]
I went down there for an audition.
298
00:19:02,601 --> 00:19:03,769
When I got there,
299
00:19:03,852 --> 00:19:08,482
I saw this rather surly Black man
across the room from me.
300
00:19:08,565 --> 00:19:11,610
And he didn't look too happy to see me.
301
00:19:11,693 --> 00:19:13,153
I looked at him, and I knew
302
00:19:13,237 --> 00:19:15,989
that I would have to be competing
with this guy
303
00:19:16,073 --> 00:19:17,866
for the rest of my days.
304
00:19:18,367 --> 00:19:22,621
I have decided that I must
hitch my wagon to, uh, Sidney's star…
305
00:19:22,704 --> 00:19:23,622
[audience laughs]
306
00:19:23,705 --> 00:19:26,500
…and be led
to great celestial experiences.
307
00:19:26,583 --> 00:19:28,418
- [audience laughing]
- And I...
308
00:19:28,502 --> 00:19:30,963
- [Cavett] You could cut it with a knife.
- [both laughing]
309
00:19:31,046 --> 00:19:34,091
My dad and Harry have
such a bromance. It's crazy.
310
00:19:34,174 --> 00:19:35,217
They've been together
311
00:19:35,300 --> 00:19:38,262
since these early years at
the American Negro Theatre company.
312
00:19:38,345 --> 00:19:42,140
And they were the best of friends,
313
00:19:42,933 --> 00:19:45,686
and then they had falling-outs,
periodic falling-outs, you know?
314
00:19:45,769 --> 00:19:48,730
They were like a married couple.
You know, like...
315
00:19:48,814 --> 00:19:52,109
They separate. They have a divorce.
They get married again.
316
00:19:52,192 --> 00:19:54,278
- We disagree on occasion.
- [Cavett] Yeah.
317
00:19:54,361 --> 00:19:57,531
And I don't mean that funny.
We do disagree on occasion,
318
00:19:57,614 --> 00:20:00,325
uh, on various subjects.
319
00:20:00,409 --> 00:20:03,161
But we exchange
on these subjects, you see.
320
00:20:03,245 --> 00:20:06,707
I've learned a great deal
from this man in 26 years.
321
00:20:06,790 --> 00:20:09,626
I suspect he has learned
some things from me.
322
00:20:09,710 --> 00:20:13,839
Uh, we are artists.
I have an ego. He has an ego.
323
00:20:13,922 --> 00:20:15,602
- [Belafonte] Tell 'em, honey.
- [chuckles]
324
00:20:15,674 --> 00:20:16,675
[audience laughing]
325
00:20:16,758 --> 00:20:19,178
- [all laughing]
- So.
326
00:20:20,345 --> 00:20:23,724
[Quincy Jones]
I was 18 years old coming out of Bird land,
327
00:20:23,807 --> 00:20:29,188
and I saw Sidney, Harry Belafonte
and Marlon Brando.
328
00:20:29,271 --> 00:20:33,108
Oh, man, come on. That was like history.
History.
329
00:20:33,734 --> 00:20:36,320
We were wild.
Everybody was wild back then.
330
00:20:36,403 --> 00:20:39,239
They used to love, and they used to fight.
[laughing]
331
00:20:39,323 --> 00:20:41,783
They got close. They stayed close.
332
00:20:42,618 --> 00:20:43,619
And worked close.
333
00:20:43,702 --> 00:20:45,829
And they kept playing that stink eye.
334
00:20:46,330 --> 00:20:48,498
[chuckling] And they still do.
335
00:20:48,582 --> 00:20:50,852
[Belafonte] We were doing a play
called Days of Our Youth.
336
00:20:50,876 --> 00:20:52,503
And Sidney Poitier was my understudy.
337
00:20:52,586 --> 00:20:54,463
We worked for nothing, of course.
338
00:20:54,546 --> 00:20:55,631
And I had a job.
339
00:20:56,298 --> 00:20:58,467
And I was a janitor's assistant.
340
00:20:58,550 --> 00:21:00,302
They were having a performance one night.
341
00:21:00,385 --> 00:21:03,138
And Harry Belafonte was the lead.
He was supposed to go on.
342
00:21:03,222 --> 00:21:05,015
He was also a garbageman at the time.
343
00:21:05,098 --> 00:21:07,935
And he got called in on a shift
that he had to take.
344
00:21:08,018 --> 00:21:10,687
And so my dad, being the understudy,
took his place.
345
00:21:10,771 --> 00:21:13,440
And there happened to be
a Broadway producer
346
00:21:13,524 --> 00:21:15,359
in the audience that night
347
00:21:15,442 --> 00:21:17,694
casting, I believe, Lysistrata.
348
00:21:19,029 --> 00:21:21,240
And cast my dad.
349
00:21:21,323 --> 00:21:23,718
I think Harry was probably pretty
pissed about that one. [Chuckles]
350
00:21:23,742 --> 00:21:27,329
[Belafonte] 20th Century Fox
had flown scouts to the East
351
00:21:27,412 --> 00:21:28,664
to hunt for an actor.
352
00:21:28,747 --> 00:21:30,040
They saw Sidney Poitier.
353
00:21:30,123 --> 00:21:31,625
They flew him to California,
354
00:21:31,708 --> 00:21:33,794
gave him his screen test,
and the rest is history.
355
00:21:33,877 --> 00:21:36,797
Every time he gets out a line
I remind him, to humble him,
356
00:21:36,880 --> 00:21:40,259
that, uh, his career was made on garbage.
357
00:21:40,342 --> 00:21:43,262
Now, that could make a man bitter
if he hadn't done reasonably well,
358
00:21:43,345 --> 00:21:44,263
as you have since.
359
00:21:44,346 --> 00:21:46,186
No, I've done reasonably well,
and I am bitter.
360
00:21:46,265 --> 00:21:47,933
- [both chuckle]
- [audience laughs]
361
00:21:48,016 --> 00:21:50,978
[siren wailing]
362
00:21:57,651 --> 00:21:58,819
- Hi, Lefty.
- Hey, Luth.
363
00:21:58,902 --> 00:22:01,446
What do you know?
I've been looking for you.
364
00:22:02,155 --> 00:22:03,907
[Poitier] The beginning of my career
365
00:22:03,991 --> 00:22:06,076
was with a man named Joe Mankiewicz.
366
00:22:06,159 --> 00:22:07,828
- Hello, Brooks.
- Good evening, Doctor.
367
00:22:07,911 --> 00:22:10,873
[Poitier] He wanted to make a movie
about Black people in America.
368
00:22:10,956 --> 00:22:16,837
And it was a very interesting movie.
The first of its kind.
369
00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:21,800
I played a young Black doctor
at a Los Angeles hospital.
370
00:22:21,884 --> 00:22:23,260
I'm Dr. Brooks.
371
00:22:23,343 --> 00:22:25,220
Yeah, they said you'd be up.
372
00:22:25,304 --> 00:22:28,056
It was really explosive stuff.
373
00:22:28,140 --> 00:22:29,892
I don't want him. I want a white doctor.
374
00:22:29,975 --> 00:22:32,036
We'll turn the lights out.
You won't know the difference.
375
00:22:32,060 --> 00:22:34,146
- Haven't I got any rights?
- No!
376
00:22:34,229 --> 00:22:35,981
[Poitier]
There were people in the industry
377
00:22:36,064 --> 00:22:37,733
who didn't have the courage
378
00:22:37,816 --> 00:22:40,736
to make a film like that
about Black people.
379
00:22:40,819 --> 00:22:43,822
There was a habit pattern
380
00:22:43,906 --> 00:22:48,702
of utilizing Blacks
in the most disrespectful way.
381
00:22:48,785 --> 00:22:52,372
I know I can eat my mashed potatoes
without a knife and...
382
00:22:52,706 --> 00:22:54,041
- Stop this foolishness!
- I…
383
00:22:54,124 --> 00:22:55,834
[Freeman] We're talking about the '40s,
384
00:22:55,918 --> 00:22:58,545
when if you're gonna work
in the movies, you better be funny.
385
00:22:58,629 --> 00:23:00,380
Step in Fetch it. [Sighs]
386
00:23:00,464 --> 00:23:01,673
Man tan More land.
387
00:23:01,757 --> 00:23:04,760
Oh, Mr. Bill, does I has to?
Can I stay up here with you?
388
00:23:04,843 --> 00:23:08,889
No. You understand that it might set
a bad example for the other servants.
389
00:23:08,972 --> 00:23:09,973
Well, certainly.
390
00:23:10,057 --> 00:23:12,851
Those were the stars...
Black stars of their time.
391
00:23:12,935 --> 00:23:15,103
If you ain't funny, you ain't working.
392
00:23:15,687 --> 00:23:19,399
[Poitier] Man tan More land,
Step in Fetch it and Hattie McDaniel.
393
00:23:19,483 --> 00:23:23,153
I knew when I came on the scene
how painful it had to have been
394
00:23:23,237 --> 00:23:28,075
for them to say some of those words
and behave in some of those ways.
395
00:23:28,158 --> 00:23:30,744
Aw, Jeff,
you're the laziest man I ever saw.
396
00:23:31,328 --> 00:23:35,082
Oh, Mr. Frank, I ain't lazy.
I is just relackatin'.
397
00:23:35,165 --> 00:23:39,753
[Poitier] Hollywood was
a really insensitive place
398
00:23:39,837 --> 00:23:41,505
when it came to Black people.
399
00:23:41,588 --> 00:23:42,908
[Jeff] Wait. Don't leave me here.
400
00:23:42,965 --> 00:23:45,425
[Pamela Poitier] Hattie McDaniel
was nominated in 1939,
401
00:23:45,509 --> 00:23:47,386
and she won in 1939.
402
00:23:47,469 --> 00:23:50,889
I knew that she was not allowed
in the hotels and all of that.
403
00:23:51,139 --> 00:23:54,601
And I knew that,
of course, playing a maid,
404
00:23:55,394 --> 00:23:57,062
brilliantly as she did,
405
00:23:57,938 --> 00:24:02,609
w... was about all they really wanted
out of people like her.
406
00:24:02,693 --> 00:24:03,694
May I say thank you
407
00:24:03,777 --> 00:24:08,365
I don't think Sidney ever played
a "subservient" part.
408
00:24:08,448 --> 00:24:10,534
Never bugged his eyes.
409
00:24:11,285 --> 00:24:12,578
Never ducked his head.
410
00:24:13,120 --> 00:24:15,289
Never said anything funny.
411
00:24:15,372 --> 00:24:17,749
You're watching a man in a world
412
00:24:17,833 --> 00:24:20,627
where he really doesn't have
a whole lot to say.
413
00:24:21,670 --> 00:24:24,256
And turns out, yes, he does.
414
00:24:25,299 --> 00:24:28,177
Every time anybody dies in a county
hospital, somebody yells murder.
415
00:24:28,260 --> 00:24:29,946
But it's not the same
when they yell it at me.
416
00:24:29,970 --> 00:24:31,305
It's got to be. You're a doctor.
417
00:24:31,388 --> 00:24:34,308
They're not yelling at the doctor.
They're yelling at the nigger.
418
00:24:34,892 --> 00:24:37,436
The movies changed
the day he hits the screen.
419
00:24:37,519 --> 00:24:38,520
You know what I mean?
420
00:24:38,604 --> 00:24:40,939
Like, never... never seen
a brother like this before.
421
00:24:41,023 --> 00:24:42,024
He... Yeah. I mean,
422
00:24:42,107 --> 00:24:45,277
he carved out something
that was just without precedent.
423
00:24:45,819 --> 00:24:47,571
I had things driving me.
424
00:24:48,071 --> 00:24:50,782
Um, I came from a very poor family.
Very, very poor family.
425
00:24:50,866 --> 00:24:53,702
And I came from a poor,
uneducated family in the Caribbean.
426
00:24:54,203 --> 00:24:58,665
And my poor, uneducated family
in the Caribbean looked on America
427
00:24:58,749 --> 00:25:01,084
as a place where there is gold
in the streets.
428
00:25:01,919 --> 00:25:05,506
And once you've gathered some of it,
you certainly should send some home.
429
00:25:06,298 --> 00:25:08,300
And because
I couldn't send gold back home,
430
00:25:08,383 --> 00:25:12,304
I developed a terrible,
neurotic attitude towards home.
431
00:25:12,387 --> 00:25:13,472
I... I cut home off.
432
00:25:13,555 --> 00:25:17,100
I didn't write because I... I couldn't
put anything in the envelope.
433
00:25:17,184 --> 00:25:20,521
He has this really deep love
and respect for his parents,
434
00:25:20,604 --> 00:25:23,232
and I think that's always, like,
weighed on him a little bit,
435
00:25:23,315 --> 00:25:24,983
that he spent eight years away.
436
00:25:26,318 --> 00:25:29,821
[Poitier] I saw my mother and father
for the first time in eight years.
437
00:25:29,905 --> 00:25:32,533
The family was able to gather
in a theater in Nassau
438
00:25:32,616 --> 00:25:35,744
to see the first picture I ever made,
No Way Out.
439
00:25:35,827 --> 00:25:37,246
Yes, it's very important.
440
00:25:37,329 --> 00:25:38,664
[Poitier] For my parents,
441
00:25:38,747 --> 00:25:41,667
it was the first time
they had ever seen a movie.
442
00:25:42,167 --> 00:25:45,420
It must have been something
like a fantasy for them. A dream.
443
00:25:45,504 --> 00:25:49,508
I'm not entirely sure how much
they grasped of the concept.
444
00:25:49,591 --> 00:25:52,135
They were absolutely enthralled.
445
00:25:52,219 --> 00:25:57,057
Letting go with "That's my kid!"
and all that kind of stuff.
446
00:25:57,641 --> 00:26:02,604
After that initial burst of success,
I was back in Harlem washing dishes.
447
00:26:02,688 --> 00:26:04,022
Despite the setback,
448
00:26:04,106 --> 00:26:06,733
I still had faith in myself
and faith in the future.
449
00:26:06,817 --> 00:26:10,237
Enough of each to marry
a beautiful young girl named Juanita,
450
00:26:10,487 --> 00:26:13,115
and try to get on with my life.
451
00:26:13,198 --> 00:26:16,368
Soon our first child was born,
452
00:26:16,451 --> 00:26:18,829
and then another was on the way.
453
00:26:19,538 --> 00:26:22,624
[Pamela] I think that my mother was
a total optimist,
454
00:26:22,708 --> 00:26:25,252
and my father was a bit of a pessimist.
455
00:26:26,044 --> 00:26:29,673
But her optimism overwhelmed him.
456
00:26:29,756 --> 00:26:33,218
And I think that
her being able to read people,
457
00:26:33,302 --> 00:26:34,845
he was fascinated by that.
458
00:26:34,928 --> 00:26:38,807
And the fact that she just...
She loved people unconditionally
459
00:26:38,891 --> 00:26:41,101
captivated his imagination.
460
00:26:42,644 --> 00:26:47,191
I was the only girl
and the only Black person
461
00:26:48,358 --> 00:26:50,903
in my class at Columbia University.
462
00:26:50,986 --> 00:26:54,239
I had two strikes against me, so
[chuckles]
463
00:26:54,323 --> 00:26:57,034
I had written an essay
464
00:26:57,117 --> 00:27:01,496
about the Black and white situation
in the United States.
465
00:27:01,580 --> 00:27:04,541
They said, "Well,
where did you get these ideas from?"
466
00:27:04,625 --> 00:27:07,127
I said, "From the people who lived it."
467
00:27:07,211 --> 00:27:11,381
When I met Sidney,
he had only been to the third grade.
468
00:27:11,465 --> 00:27:14,384
He was always out there to learn.
469
00:27:14,468 --> 00:27:16,345
He needed to know
470
00:27:16,428 --> 00:27:20,682
everything he could get his mind on.
471
00:27:21,725 --> 00:27:25,938
And I... I was trying to feed him
all the time
472
00:27:26,021 --> 00:27:28,690
the things that I felt that he didn't know
473
00:27:28,774 --> 00:27:30,901
that it would help him if he knew.
474
00:27:30,984 --> 00:27:34,404
Then he could start feeling and reacting
475
00:27:34,488 --> 00:27:37,282
to the movies that he was offered.
476
00:27:37,366 --> 00:27:39,618
I said, "Everything is not about money."
477
00:27:40,369 --> 00:27:44,915
He got offered a role in a film.
I think it was by Marty Baum.
478
00:27:44,998 --> 00:27:48,210
And he turned it down.
479
00:27:48,293 --> 00:27:50,754
And Marty Baum was like,
"I'm sorry. I don't understand.
480
00:27:50,838 --> 00:27:54,925
Like, this is gonna pay you
more money than you make in a year."
481
00:27:55,509 --> 00:27:57,469
My second daughter was about to be born.
482
00:27:57,553 --> 00:27:58,679
My second child.
483
00:27:59,346 --> 00:28:00,639
And I didn't have the money.
484
00:28:02,683 --> 00:28:04,935
The part called for me as a janitor,
485
00:28:05,018 --> 00:28:07,354
which is...
Nothing wrong with playing janitors.
486
00:28:07,437 --> 00:28:10,941
But in this particular script,
a murder took place.
487
00:28:11,441 --> 00:28:14,361
And the murderers, or the people
who knew about the mur...
488
00:28:14,444 --> 00:28:17,114
Or who were associated with the murderers,
489
00:28:17,990 --> 00:28:21,201
felt that I, the janitor,
had witnessed it.
490
00:28:21,285 --> 00:28:25,455
In the narrative,
the janitor's daughter is murdered,
491
00:28:26,206 --> 00:28:31,712
and the janitor has no recourse
to speak about how he feels
492
00:28:31,795 --> 00:28:35,465
about his daughter's body
being thrown upon the lawn.
493
00:28:35,549 --> 00:28:37,009
They're not gonna change the script
494
00:28:37,092 --> 00:28:39,511
to give him some kind of reaction to that.
495
00:28:41,180 --> 00:28:42,347
And he said,
496
00:28:42,431 --> 00:28:46,059
"Reginald Poitier would never allow
497
00:28:46,143 --> 00:28:49,563
a child of his to be thrown upon the lawn
498
00:28:49,646 --> 00:28:51,690
and not have something to say about it."
499
00:28:51,773 --> 00:28:54,318
He wanted to make sure
that whatever he did in life,
500
00:28:54,735 --> 00:28:57,196
reflected well on his father.
501
00:28:57,696 --> 00:28:59,990
He said that when he looked up
502
00:29:00,073 --> 00:29:04,953
and saw his name on the screen
or on the marquee,
503
00:29:05,037 --> 00:29:07,539
it was not his name.
It was his father's name.
504
00:29:08,123 --> 00:29:09,917
I cannot play that
505
00:29:11,043 --> 00:29:16,048
if I'm the son of the man I believe I am.
506
00:29:16,882 --> 00:29:18,550
I could not play that
507
00:29:18,634 --> 00:29:24,139
if my mother is the mother
that I think she was.
508
00:29:24,223 --> 00:29:26,934
And so he turns it down.
509
00:29:27,643 --> 00:29:31,271
He turns it down and goes out
and takes a... and takes a loan
510
00:29:31,355 --> 00:29:33,982
so that he can pay for his baby
in the hospital.
511
00:29:34,483 --> 00:29:37,569
He did what he had to do
512
00:29:38,070 --> 00:29:43,033
because not so much of
what people expected out of him
513
00:29:43,116 --> 00:29:45,911
but what he expected out of himself.
514
00:29:46,453 --> 00:29:50,958
My faithfulness to my values
belongs to my mom.
515
00:29:57,422 --> 00:29:58,799
And to my dad.
516
00:30:10,269 --> 00:30:13,564
[emergency video narrator]
First you duck, and then you cover.
517
00:30:15,899 --> 00:30:18,819
[George] The Cold War
after World War II produced
518
00:30:18,902 --> 00:30:22,239
a kind of paranoia in America
about communism
519
00:30:22,322 --> 00:30:25,367
that impacted every aspect
of American life.
520
00:30:25,450 --> 00:30:30,330
The communist underground directed
its agents, in effect,
521
00:30:30,414 --> 00:30:32,541
to infiltrate Hollywood
522
00:30:32,624 --> 00:30:36,253
and to do everything possible
to poison the screen.
523
00:30:36,336 --> 00:30:38,672
They are enemies! They are not Americans.
524
00:30:38,755 --> 00:30:40,382
- They're homosexuals.
- That's right!
525
00:30:40,465 --> 00:30:41,884
- They're communists!
- They are!
526
00:30:41,967 --> 00:30:43,385
They're communists!
527
00:30:43,468 --> 00:30:46,221
Even if there were only one communist
in the State Department
528
00:30:46,305 --> 00:30:49,308
that would still be
one communist too many.
529
00:30:49,391 --> 00:30:52,477
[Andrew Young] I remember that period
'cause I was just getting to college
530
00:30:52,561 --> 00:30:53,729
at Howard University.
531
00:30:53,812 --> 00:30:56,565
I saw the McCarthy hearings
532
00:30:56,648 --> 00:30:59,818
on the first television set I'd seen,
533
00:30:59,902 --> 00:31:02,237
which was in the dormitory lounge.
534
00:31:02,321 --> 00:31:03,697
It was really scary.
535
00:31:03,780 --> 00:31:05,842
[newsreel narrator]
The requirement of a loyalty oath
536
00:31:05,866 --> 00:31:08,368
becomes increasingly widespread
in the government
537
00:31:08,452 --> 00:31:09,620
and throughout the nation.
538
00:31:10,204 --> 00:31:14,333
There were lists made of possible
communists or communist sympathizers.
539
00:31:14,416 --> 00:31:16,936
So many people didn't make it
through that, Paul Robeson being one.
540
00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:20,255
[interviewer] Have you come back from
Moscow still a convinced communist?
541
00:31:20,339 --> 00:31:22,901
I don't see how you can ask me that.
How do you know I'm a communist?
542
00:31:22,925 --> 00:31:24,343
- Nobody else knows.
- Are you?
543
00:31:24,426 --> 00:31:26,386
- So I resent the question.
- I beg your pardon.
544
00:31:26,470 --> 00:31:28,096
Will you rephrase it, please? Yes.
545
00:31:28,180 --> 00:31:30,307
[singing spiritual song]
546
00:31:34,102 --> 00:31:36,188
[Aram Goudsouzian]
Paul Robeson was as significant
547
00:31:36,271 --> 00:31:39,733
an African American cultural figure
in the 1930s as existed.
548
00:31:39,816 --> 00:31:42,528
He stood atop of
this world of Black entertainment
549
00:31:42,611 --> 00:31:44,589
that people like Sidney Poitier
and Harry Belafonte
550
00:31:44,613 --> 00:31:45,614
were becoming a part of.
551
00:31:45,697 --> 00:31:48,033
And they very much admired Paul Robeson.
552
00:31:48,116 --> 00:31:49,952
- [gunshot]
- [character laughs]
553
00:31:50,035 --> 00:31:52,120
[Freeman] Well, he had America on his butt
554
00:31:52,204 --> 00:31:54,915
because he was supportive
of the proletariat.
555
00:31:54,998 --> 00:31:56,917
"Yeah, but they're communists." So?
556
00:31:58,126 --> 00:32:01,880
Robeson becomes
an interesting dual template
557
00:32:02,589 --> 00:32:05,425
for Poitier and Belafonte
558
00:32:05,509 --> 00:32:10,806
you know, as to which side of the line
are you going to... to fight on.
559
00:32:13,308 --> 00:32:15,853
Robeson was blackballed,
and not only was he blackballed,
560
00:32:15,936 --> 00:32:17,622
but when he could've gone
to Europe to work,
561
00:32:17,646 --> 00:32:19,486
the American government
took his passport away.
562
00:32:19,523 --> 00:32:23,652
We have seen that people
will so fight for their freedom
563
00:32:23,735 --> 00:32:27,072
that if it is not given to them,
they will take it.
564
00:32:27,155 --> 00:32:31,827
[Spike Lee] So for Sidney, he saw
how Paul Robeson was disrespected
565
00:32:31,910 --> 00:32:33,662
and, uh, the abuse he took.
566
00:32:34,246 --> 00:32:37,791
And when you see something like that…
567
00:32:39,334 --> 00:32:41,295
It's like a... can be a road map.
568
00:32:41,879 --> 00:32:45,507
Yeah, well, just try and
pay attention, Santini.
569
00:32:45,591 --> 00:32:47,759
- I pay attention.
- [school bell rings]
570
00:32:51,221 --> 00:32:54,308
Hey, Miller. Come here.
I want to talk to you a minute, Miller.
571
00:32:54,391 --> 00:32:56,643
[Studs Terkel]
What film was it, Blackboard Jungle?
572
00:32:56,727 --> 00:32:58,246
You were asked to sign a loyalty oath.
573
00:32:58,270 --> 00:33:00,270
- [Poitier] Several times.
- [Terkel] Why was that?
574
00:33:00,355 --> 00:33:03,942
[Poitier] Well, I think mainly
because I knew Paul Robeson,
575
00:33:04,026 --> 00:33:07,446
and my admiration was not
a well-kept secret.
576
00:33:07,529 --> 00:33:10,782
That seemed to have been enough
to make me suspect.
577
00:33:11,408 --> 00:33:13,178
Now, don't...
Don't be modest with me, Miller.
578
00:33:13,202 --> 00:33:14,562
You know you're a little brighter,
579
00:33:14,620 --> 00:33:16,380
a little smarter
than the rest of those guys.
580
00:33:16,455 --> 00:33:17,664
- Me?
- Yeah.
581
00:33:18,248 --> 00:33:19,958
And every class needs a leader.
582
00:33:20,042 --> 00:33:22,353
[Goudsouzian] Poitier appeared
on the pages of Counterattack,
583
00:33:22,377 --> 00:33:25,297
which was this
conservative watchdog publication
584
00:33:25,380 --> 00:33:28,717
that looked to investigate
the various leftist associations
585
00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:30,511
of various figures
in American public life.
586
00:33:30,594 --> 00:33:34,014
Clearly someone had been keeping tabs
on Poitier throughout the 1950s.
587
00:33:34,598 --> 00:33:37,059
[Poitier] At that time,
there was the politics of film making
588
00:33:37,142 --> 00:33:39,353
that required that, if you wanted to work,
589
00:33:39,436 --> 00:33:42,481
you had to be on very good terms
590
00:33:42,564 --> 00:33:46,443
with whatever forces
were putting people on blacklists.
591
00:33:46,527 --> 00:33:47,528
[Terkel] You said no.
592
00:33:48,862 --> 00:33:49,988
Let's go, bright boy.
593
00:33:50,614 --> 00:33:52,574
Hey, wait. He means me.
594
00:33:53,075 --> 00:33:55,786
[Terkel] You're gonna jeopardize
your career and everything.
595
00:33:55,869 --> 00:33:59,373
[Poitier] Yeah, well, there are some
things that you have to say no to.
596
00:33:59,456 --> 00:34:03,168
My integrity was more important
than to play politics.
597
00:34:03,919 --> 00:34:06,797
It's brave. I mean,
when everything was on the line...
598
00:34:07,089 --> 00:34:08,924
He could've easily been blackballed.
599
00:34:09,007 --> 00:34:13,262
I could only imagine in those days
what... what it was like to speak out.
600
00:34:15,681 --> 00:34:17,266
[Poitier] Of all my father's teachings,
601
00:34:17,349 --> 00:34:21,812
the most enduring was the one
about the true measure of a man.
602
00:34:22,312 --> 00:34:26,108
That true measure was how well
he provided for his children.
603
00:34:26,190 --> 00:34:30,237
And it stuck with me
as if it were etched in my brain.
604
00:34:30,904 --> 00:34:32,947
I didn't know where I was going next,
605
00:34:33,031 --> 00:34:36,243
but I knew that failure wasn't an option.
606
00:34:37,411 --> 00:34:39,996
That's when I got the call
from Richard Brooks
607
00:34:40,080 --> 00:34:42,623
to make Something of Value in Kenya.
608
00:34:42,708 --> 00:34:45,835
And from there, my career really took off.
609
00:34:45,918 --> 00:34:49,380
Did I say to myself,
"This country is waking up
610
00:34:49,464 --> 00:34:53,302
and beginning to recognize
that certain changes are inevitable"?
611
00:34:53,927 --> 00:34:55,429
No, I did not.
612
00:34:55,512 --> 00:34:59,558
The moment
a Negro child walks into the school,
613
00:34:59,641 --> 00:35:03,395
every decent,
self-respecting, loving parent
614
00:35:03,478 --> 00:35:06,899
should take his white child
out of that broken school.
615
00:35:06,982 --> 00:35:07,983
[audience applauding]
616
00:35:08,066 --> 00:35:10,944
[Poitier] This was still 1950 America,
617
00:35:11,195 --> 00:35:12,696
an America in which
618
00:35:12,779 --> 00:35:15,991
a career like this
had never even been dreamed of.
619
00:35:16,074 --> 00:35:20,120
It had never happened before
in the history of the movie business.
620
00:35:20,204 --> 00:35:22,372
A Black leading man.
621
00:35:23,665 --> 00:35:26,710
[singing]
622
00:35:27,753 --> 00:35:30,589
You heard what the man said, nigger.
Now shut up.
623
00:35:34,718 --> 00:35:37,387
You call me nigger again, Joker,
and I'm gonna kill you.
624
00:35:38,013 --> 00:35:39,223
Make your move.
625
00:35:40,474 --> 00:35:41,914
- [train whistle blowing]
- Look out!
626
00:35:50,192 --> 00:35:53,529
[Barbra Streisand] I've always
thought there was a great connection
627
00:35:53,612 --> 00:35:56,114
to Jews and Blacks.
628
00:35:56,198 --> 00:36:00,702
When I saw The Defiant Ones,
Tony Curtis, the Jew,
629
00:36:00,786 --> 00:36:04,248
and Sidney Poitier, who was Black...
630
00:36:04,331 --> 00:36:08,252
And it just had this chemistry
about, almost, people in chains.
631
00:36:08,335 --> 00:36:10,838
We know about that in our DNA.
632
00:36:11,797 --> 00:36:14,925
[Halle Berry] The Defiant Ones.
That was the first one I ever saw.
633
00:36:15,008 --> 00:36:16,927
And, man, it was impactful.
634
00:36:17,010 --> 00:36:20,472
To this day, I still remember
him saying to Tony Curtis,
635
00:36:20,556 --> 00:36:22,850
"I got a needle sticking in me.
Don't call me 'boy.'"
636
00:36:22,933 --> 00:36:25,769
Yeah. And I got a needle
sticking in me right now.
637
00:36:25,853 --> 00:36:27,521
Look, Joker, don't call me "boy."
638
00:36:28,105 --> 00:36:30,190
It was the first time I had really seen
639
00:36:30,274 --> 00:36:34,820
a Black man assert his power
and command respect
640
00:36:35,320 --> 00:36:36,738
from a white man on film.
641
00:36:36,822 --> 00:36:40,701
That moment in the film
where Sidney makes the decision…
642
00:36:44,580 --> 00:36:47,082
To sacrifice his possible freedom…
643
00:36:47,165 --> 00:36:48,417
Come on!
644
00:36:48,500 --> 00:36:51,461
I can't make it! I can't make it!
645
00:36:51,545 --> 00:36:53,255
…to save his white friend…
646
00:36:53,338 --> 00:36:56,884
[train whistle blows]
647
00:36:58,927 --> 00:37:02,973
…is something that Black people
still don't like and still don't believe.
648
00:37:03,473 --> 00:37:04,808
It's a magic Negro moment,
649
00:37:04,892 --> 00:37:07,561
which was basically
a trope that happened...
650
00:37:07,644 --> 00:37:10,606
The Defiant Ones is
one of the most prime examples
651
00:37:10,689 --> 00:37:14,484
of a Black character sacrificing
their well-being
652
00:37:14,568 --> 00:37:15,903
or risking something
653
00:37:15,986 --> 00:37:17,529
or going out of their way
654
00:37:17,613 --> 00:37:20,657
to help a white character
in a moment of distress.
655
00:37:20,741 --> 00:37:26,413
And that was a huge trope
in Hollywood storytelling for years.
656
00:37:26,914 --> 00:37:29,333
And it was a way, to them,
657
00:37:29,416 --> 00:37:32,169
of showing the humanity
and the empathy of Black people
658
00:37:32,252 --> 00:37:33,921
even in the face of their struggles.
659
00:37:35,047 --> 00:37:38,634
But to Black people, it seemed like,
"Yo, these people are punks."
660
00:37:38,717 --> 00:37:41,637
I questioned it just a little bit.
661
00:37:42,304 --> 00:37:44,848
"What would I have done?" You know?
662
00:37:47,226 --> 00:37:48,727
Probably would've jumped off too.
663
00:37:50,145 --> 00:37:52,439
We've been through all of this
chained together.
664
00:37:54,191 --> 00:37:56,068
I'm not gonna let you go by yourself.
665
00:37:57,027 --> 00:37:59,029
[Terkel] James Baldwin was on the program.
666
00:37:59,112 --> 00:38:02,282
And he says, "Defiant Ones?
Oh, middle-class whites loved it,
667
00:38:02,366 --> 00:38:03,951
but in Uptown, in the Black community,
668
00:38:04,034 --> 00:38:06,245
they hollered,
'Get back on that train, you fool!'"
669
00:38:06,328 --> 00:38:08,288
[Poitier chuckles]
What's your reaction to that?
670
00:38:08,330 --> 00:38:09,915
[Poitier] I have no reaction to that.
671
00:38:09,998 --> 00:38:12,584
Listen, the picture then was
a revolutionary film.
672
00:38:12,668 --> 00:38:14,103
- [Terkel] It was.
- [Poitier] You know?
673
00:38:14,127 --> 00:38:16,964
It stands today as a revolutionary film.
674
00:38:17,756 --> 00:38:19,424
We're doing all right, Joker.
675
00:38:19,508 --> 00:38:20,509
Yeah.
676
00:38:22,302 --> 00:38:23,929
[Goudsouzian] Defiant Ones was the movie
677
00:38:24,012 --> 00:38:26,849
that would help to define
Sidney Poitier as we know him, right,
678
00:38:26,932 --> 00:38:28,851
as this incredibly powerful actor.
679
00:38:28,934 --> 00:38:32,312
Alongside Tony Curtis, their names
appeared above the name of the film,
680
00:38:32,396 --> 00:38:35,649
which was the symbol of becoming
a genuine Hollywood leading man.
681
00:38:36,108 --> 00:38:39,987
My dad and Tony Curtis
were both nominated for Oscars.
682
00:38:40,070 --> 00:38:43,156
It was the first time a Black person
had been nominated for an Oscar
683
00:38:43,240 --> 00:38:44,491
since Hattie McDaniel.
684
00:38:44,575 --> 00:38:46,910
The fact that my dad came home
with this plaque
685
00:38:46,994 --> 00:38:50,581
that said he was nominated,
that he could put up on the wall,
686
00:38:50,664 --> 00:38:51,957
was a big deal for him.
687
00:38:53,041 --> 00:38:55,002
[Goudsouzian]
The amount of media attention,
688
00:38:55,085 --> 00:38:57,671
the profiles, magazine covers…
689
00:38:57,754 --> 00:39:00,716
He's on the cover of Ebony magazine.
He's clearly emerged as a star.
690
00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:06,388
[Streisand] He was beautiful in many ways.
691
00:39:06,471 --> 00:39:08,640
First of all, what smile is like that?
692
00:39:08,724 --> 00:39:11,560
Maybe only Brando's. Come on.
693
00:39:11,643 --> 00:39:13,937
["Just Kissed My Baby" playing]
694
00:39:15,856 --> 00:39:18,483
[Tate] I mean, part of Sidney's beauty
695
00:39:18,567 --> 00:39:21,987
is he's like a walking Yoruba mask.
696
00:39:22,070 --> 00:39:24,114
You know what I mean? Like Benin bronze.
697
00:39:24,698 --> 00:39:25,908
He's so sculptural.
698
00:39:25,991 --> 00:39:28,827
[Berry]
He was, like, this gorgeous creature.
699
00:39:28,911 --> 00:39:32,497
I... I wanted to marry Sidney Poitier.
You know what I mean?
700
00:39:32,581 --> 00:39:37,920
He was definitely my idea
of what a perfect Black man would be.
701
00:39:38,003 --> 00:39:39,546
[Lee] Sidney had conviction.
702
00:39:40,047 --> 00:39:45,010
And he understood what imagery
is about, the power of imagery.
703
00:39:45,677 --> 00:39:47,804
[Sydney] I have seen people cry.
704
00:39:47,888 --> 00:39:49,723
I have seen women swoon.
705
00:39:49,806 --> 00:39:51,892
I've seen their husbands swoon.
706
00:39:51,975 --> 00:39:56,438
I've seen everybody
sort of melt in his presence.
707
00:39:57,022 --> 00:40:00,817
[Streisand]
He was so elegant, so statuesque.
708
00:40:00,901 --> 00:40:04,780
He was, like, "wow."
Movie stars should be "wow."
709
00:40:08,867 --> 00:40:12,412
I did Raisin in the Sun in 1959.
So I got to know Sidney pretty well.
710
00:40:12,496 --> 00:40:14,748
We got to know one another very well.
711
00:40:14,831 --> 00:40:17,459
["Compared to What" playing]
712
00:40:18,961 --> 00:40:20,879
Every Black person had read
Raisin in the Sun
713
00:40:20,963 --> 00:40:23,257
because that was
one of those plays you read
714
00:40:23,340 --> 00:40:25,551
when they started letting us read
Black stuff at school.
715
00:40:25,634 --> 00:40:27,928
[song continues]
716
00:40:33,600 --> 00:40:37,312
Sidney had bought me
a mink coat or something.
717
00:40:37,813 --> 00:40:40,107
And I said,
"I don't need a mink coat. [Chuckles]
718
00:40:40,190 --> 00:40:41,650
I just want to…".
719
00:40:42,192 --> 00:40:45,028
So I took it back to the store,
and I got the money
720
00:40:45,112 --> 00:40:48,240
and invested it in Raisin in the Sun.
721
00:40:48,323 --> 00:40:50,492
And I was the largest investor
722
00:40:50,576 --> 00:40:53,620
in the play that he was doing on Broadway.
723
00:40:54,246 --> 00:40:55,831
I had done Broadway before.
724
00:40:55,914 --> 00:40:57,794
Didn't know
whether it was gonna be good or bad.
725
00:40:57,875 --> 00:40:58,709
It felt good.
726
00:40:58,792 --> 00:41:01,378
The first act intermission,
when the curtain went down,
727
00:41:01,461 --> 00:41:02,629
you could hear a pin drop.
728
00:41:03,213 --> 00:41:05,090
[chuckling] We thought it was a failure.
729
00:41:05,174 --> 00:41:07,384
By the time we got to
the second intermission,
730
00:41:07,926 --> 00:41:12,431
that audience was so involved with us
that by the time the play was over,
731
00:41:13,098 --> 00:41:14,349
there was a... [gasps]
732
00:41:14,433 --> 00:41:18,145
A breath of fresh air,
a scream, a "Bravo!"
733
00:41:18,228 --> 00:41:19,313
It was amazing.
734
00:41:20,063 --> 00:41:22,774
[Poitier] I knew for certain
that I was meant to be an actor
735
00:41:22,858 --> 00:41:25,736
when the curtain came down
on opening night in New York.
736
00:41:25,819 --> 00:41:28,155
After all the doubts that had accumulated
737
00:41:28,238 --> 00:41:29,948
since that serendipitous meeting
738
00:41:30,032 --> 00:41:33,202
between myself and that gentleman
at the American Negro Theatre,
739
00:41:33,285 --> 00:41:35,412
when he threw me out and slammed the door,
740
00:41:35,996 --> 00:41:38,123
that night I knew for certain
741
00:41:38,207 --> 00:41:42,586
that I had just been formally
introduced to my true calling.
742
00:41:42,669 --> 00:41:43,837
I was an actor.
743
00:41:45,714 --> 00:41:47,382
I got me some plans, man.
744
00:41:47,466 --> 00:41:51,094
I got me some plans
that'll turn this city upside down.
745
00:41:51,178 --> 00:41:52,179
You know what I mean?
746
00:41:52,262 --> 00:41:54,765
[Goudsouzian]
There's the film made the next year
747
00:41:54,848 --> 00:41:56,648
that brings the play
to a much wider audience.
748
00:41:56,683 --> 00:41:59,061
It is arguably Poitier's
most electric performance.
749
00:41:59,144 --> 00:42:02,940
And it's no accident that it is
a role written by an African American
750
00:42:03,023 --> 00:42:05,025
in the tumult
of the early Civil Rights Movement,
751
00:42:05,108 --> 00:42:06,443
unlike so many of his roles,
752
00:42:06,527 --> 00:42:09,404
which are written by white,
male, liberal screenwriters.
753
00:42:09,488 --> 00:42:11,281
Lorraine Hansberry is able to tap into
754
00:42:11,365 --> 00:42:13,700
a certain authenticity
of the Black experience
755
00:42:13,784 --> 00:42:15,887
that none of those other
Hollywood screenwriters could.
756
00:42:15,911 --> 00:42:19,790
- I know you are a busy little boy.
- Walter, please.
757
00:42:21,208 --> 00:42:25,045
I know ain't nothing in the world
as busy as you colored college boys
758
00:42:25,128 --> 00:42:27,297
with your fraternity pins
and your white shoes.
759
00:42:27,381 --> 00:42:28,215
Oh, Wally.
760
00:42:28,298 --> 00:42:30,926
I see you all the time with
your books tucked under your arm,
761
00:42:31,009 --> 00:42:33,136
going to your classes.
762
00:42:33,762 --> 00:42:36,533
What are you learning down there?
What are they filling your head with?
763
00:42:36,557 --> 00:42:40,769
The kind of ceiling on the possibilities
that... that Black people had,
764
00:42:40,853 --> 00:42:44,231
and especially sort of aggressive
young Black men had at that time...
765
00:42:44,314 --> 00:42:46,733
It's right there. And you...
He really embodies that.
766
00:42:46,817 --> 00:42:50,529
So, there's not a huge difference
from Sidney in Raisin in the Sun
767
00:42:50,612 --> 00:42:53,991
to see, you know,
the kids in Boyz n the Hood.
768
00:42:54,074 --> 00:42:56,827
You know, man, you are
all wacked up with bitterness.
769
00:42:58,620 --> 00:43:00,372
How about you? Ain't you bitter, man?
770
00:43:00,873 --> 00:43:04,376
Don't you see no stars gleaming that
you can't reach out and grab, huh?
771
00:43:05,419 --> 00:43:06,420
I'm talking...
772
00:43:09,131 --> 00:43:10,132
Bitter?
773
00:43:11,049 --> 00:43:14,386
I'm a volcano. I'm a giant,
and I'm surrounded by ants.
774
00:43:14,469 --> 00:43:17,306
Ants who don't even know
what I'm talking about. How's that?
775
00:43:17,389 --> 00:43:20,726
It's an art of making a moment
and knowing what you're gonna do
776
00:43:20,809 --> 00:43:22,489
and knowing where the camera's going to be
777
00:43:22,561 --> 00:43:23,729
and learning all those moves.
778
00:43:23,812 --> 00:43:25,480
He had it all figured out.
779
00:43:25,564 --> 00:43:28,483
Very difficult not to copy that man.
780
00:43:41,330 --> 00:43:43,224
[Lenny Kravitz]
The first time I would've met Sidney,
781
00:43:43,248 --> 00:43:44,541
I would've been quite young,
782
00:43:44,625 --> 00:43:47,503
because he and my aunt Diahann
were together.
783
00:43:47,586 --> 00:43:48,837
So I would have been five.
784
00:43:49,338 --> 00:43:52,466
I really learned about that relationship
785
00:43:53,175 --> 00:43:57,554
when I read Sidney's book
when I was much older,
786
00:43:58,180 --> 00:44:02,935
because Aunt Diahann didn't really
talk about that at that point.
787
00:44:03,435 --> 00:44:07,648
As I got older, uh, there were
conversations that were had,
788
00:44:08,148 --> 00:44:09,942
uh, where it was appropriate now.
789
00:44:10,692 --> 00:44:13,487
I was surprised 'cause
I didn't know it was like that.
790
00:44:14,029 --> 00:44:16,323
There were a lot of feelings involved.
791
00:44:16,406 --> 00:44:17,406
[kisses]
792
00:44:17,449 --> 00:44:18,575
- You're beautiful.
- Yeah?
793
00:44:18,659 --> 00:44:19,826
- [laughs] Yes.
- [chuckles]
794
00:44:19,910 --> 00:44:21,828
You make me feel beautiful.
795
00:44:22,329 --> 00:44:24,164
I don't feel average when I'm with you.
796
00:44:24,248 --> 00:44:27,459
I feel very, very special.
797
00:44:27,543 --> 00:44:29,545
It's a very sexy movie.
798
00:44:29,628 --> 00:44:31,922
The black and white is gorgeous.
799
00:44:32,005 --> 00:44:34,091
Paris, the city, is gorgeous.
800
00:44:34,174 --> 00:44:37,594
You're in these caves...
In these jazz caves, you know?
801
00:44:37,678 --> 00:44:38,846
You've got Paul Newman.
802
00:44:40,013 --> 00:44:41,723
And you've got my aunt Diahann,
803
00:44:41,807 --> 00:44:46,562
who is the most stunning woman
you've ever seen in that film.
804
00:44:46,645 --> 00:44:49,231
He and Diahann Carroll are
one of the most beautiful couples
805
00:44:49,314 --> 00:44:50,566
in cinema history.
806
00:44:50,649 --> 00:44:51,859
They have these trench coats,
807
00:44:51,942 --> 00:44:53,944
and they're walking at night
through Paris.
808
00:44:54,027 --> 00:44:57,322
And they're bantering about
the Civil Rights Movement and love.
809
00:44:57,406 --> 00:45:00,242
You stick around Paris for a while
and stretch a bit.
810
00:45:00,325 --> 00:45:02,703
Sit down for lunch somewhere
without getting clubbed for it.
811
00:45:02,786 --> 00:45:04,830
And you'll wake up one day,
look across the ocean,
812
00:45:04,913 --> 00:45:06,290
and you'll say, "Who needs it?"
813
00:45:06,790 --> 00:45:10,794
[Goudsouzian] As Poitier is becoming
this symbol to the entire country,
814
00:45:10,878 --> 00:45:13,255
he's also undergoing this personal crisis.
815
00:45:13,338 --> 00:45:14,339
On the one hand,
816
00:45:14,423 --> 00:45:16,967
he feels an intense connection
and a love with Diahann Carroll
817
00:45:17,050 --> 00:45:18,969
that he feels is missing
from his marriage.
818
00:45:19,052 --> 00:45:20,512
On the other hand, he's a father.
819
00:45:20,596 --> 00:45:23,182
And he has the lessons
of Reginald Poitier, his father,
820
00:45:23,265 --> 00:45:25,825
that say the measure of a man is
how you provide for your family.
821
00:45:25,851 --> 00:45:29,188
Is he abandoning those values
by engaging in this affair?
822
00:45:29,897 --> 00:45:31,648
I can't let you go.
823
00:45:32,858 --> 00:45:34,234
Then come with me.
824
00:45:35,402 --> 00:45:37,654
[Goudsouzian] By the end
of the filming of Paris Blues,
825
00:45:37,738 --> 00:45:39,281
they were still both in flux.
826
00:45:39,364 --> 00:45:41,241
Unsure about the next steps
in their lives.
827
00:45:41,325 --> 00:45:43,325
Unsure about whether
they were gonna stay together.
828
00:45:43,368 --> 00:45:46,330
Unsure about what to do
about their larger family situations.
829
00:45:46,830 --> 00:45:49,249
[Hardy] He was busy. He said he had to go.
830
00:45:49,333 --> 00:45:52,920
He couldn't stay out at the…
[stammers] …the house
831
00:45:53,003 --> 00:45:56,673
because he needed to get an apartment
so he could, uh, write.
832
00:45:56,757 --> 00:45:59,092
He was writing now and so forth.
833
00:45:59,676 --> 00:46:02,012
And, of course, it turned out
834
00:46:02,095 --> 00:46:04,765
it was, uh, something else
835
00:46:04,848 --> 00:46:08,060
and not what he said.
836
00:46:15,025 --> 00:46:17,236
[announcer] Freedom Now Movement, hear me.
837
00:46:18,529 --> 00:46:21,865
We are requesting all citizens
to move into Washington.
838
00:46:21,949 --> 00:46:24,535
To go by plane, car, bus.
839
00:46:24,618 --> 00:46:26,203
Any way that you can get there.
840
00:46:26,286 --> 00:46:28,413
["For What It's Worth" playing]
841
00:46:35,337 --> 00:46:38,882
Negroes want the same things
that white citizens possess.
842
00:46:38,966 --> 00:46:40,300
All of their rights.
843
00:46:40,384 --> 00:46:43,011
[protesters chanting] Freedom! Freedom!
844
00:46:51,228 --> 00:46:52,229
[song continues]
845
00:46:56,358 --> 00:46:59,403
[reporter] The whole purpose of
this march is to demonstrate support
846
00:46:59,486 --> 00:47:02,281
for President Kennedy's Civil Rights Bill.
847
00:47:02,364 --> 00:47:05,242
We were really a Southern Black movement
848
00:47:05,325 --> 00:47:07,619
until 1963 in August.
849
00:47:07,703 --> 00:47:12,040
It was not only Dr. King
relating the dreams
850
00:47:12,124 --> 00:47:14,251
of African Americans in the South,
851
00:47:14,334 --> 00:47:19,131
but it was the presence
of the stars of Hollywood.
852
00:47:24,720 --> 00:47:27,723
[no audible dialogue]
853
00:47:35,606 --> 00:47:40,027
Harry and Sidney Poitier made this
a global event.
854
00:47:40,110 --> 00:47:42,279
And that was before
Martin Luther King said a word.
855
00:47:42,362 --> 00:47:43,363
[chuckles]
856
00:47:44,281 --> 00:47:47,075
Dr. King did not know Marlon Brando.
857
00:47:48,285 --> 00:47:50,370
He did not know Paul Newman.
858
00:47:51,496 --> 00:47:55,792
Hollywood stars who marched
with Dr. King movements.
859
00:47:55,876 --> 00:48:00,047
And it was Sidney and Harry.
That's the connection.
860
00:48:00,130 --> 00:48:01,924
I noticed today, all day long,
861
00:48:02,007 --> 00:48:04,343
in all of the speeches,
on all of the placards,
862
00:48:04,426 --> 00:48:07,888
I saw the word or heard the word
"now, now, now," repeatedly.
863
00:48:07,971 --> 00:48:09,032
- Insistently.
- [chanting] Now!
864
00:48:09,056 --> 00:48:13,185
The urgency that was evident today
has been bubbling in me, personally,
865
00:48:13,268 --> 00:48:14,478
for most of these years.
866
00:48:14,561 --> 00:48:17,022
At least, most of the years
I came into adulthood.
867
00:48:17,105 --> 00:48:19,066
I became interested
in the Civil Rights struggle
868
00:48:19,149 --> 00:48:20,901
out of a necessity to survive.
869
00:48:20,984 --> 00:48:25,489
And I think my interest started,
uh, many years ago,
870
00:48:25,572 --> 00:48:29,326
never as intensely, however,
as it exists today.
871
00:48:29,409 --> 00:48:31,009
Gentlemen, I think that it's about time…
872
00:48:31,078 --> 00:48:33,789
In terms of Sidney's activism,
I was not only impressed,
873
00:48:33,872 --> 00:48:35,290
but I was inspired by it,
874
00:48:35,374 --> 00:48:38,961
'cause I thought, "Well,
I can do that too. In my own way.
875
00:48:39,044 --> 00:48:41,922
I'll have to find my own way,
but I can do that, you know?
876
00:48:42,005 --> 00:48:44,216
I have a voice. I can use it."
877
00:48:44,299 --> 00:48:46,134
He was up against tremendous odds.
878
00:48:46,218 --> 00:48:48,345
You knew he was gonna get
accused by people saying,
879
00:48:48,428 --> 00:48:49,508
"Who are you to speak out?"
880
00:48:49,555 --> 00:48:51,014
Just not fair.
881
00:48:51,098 --> 00:48:53,350
He had a voice.
He had every right to use it.
882
00:48:53,433 --> 00:48:55,352
He had earned that voice.
883
00:48:55,435 --> 00:48:58,188
And just being an actor doesn't mean
you can't speak out.
884
00:48:58,689 --> 00:49:03,193
Through the eyes of
the average American, unfortunately,
885
00:49:04,069 --> 00:49:07,030
it was impossible for them to see me.
886
00:49:07,739 --> 00:49:10,742
Sometimes I would be pissed about it,
887
00:49:10,826 --> 00:49:14,454
meaning that I would be unable to change
888
00:49:14,955 --> 00:49:17,666
the way Black people were used, treated.
889
00:49:18,250 --> 00:49:20,711
[George] Hollywood was not ready,
at that point,
890
00:49:20,794 --> 00:49:23,672
for even more than one Black star.
891
00:49:23,755 --> 00:49:26,258
There's one Black star.
Now, there's other Black actors.
892
00:49:26,842 --> 00:49:30,345
But for the most part,
it was a very conservative industry
893
00:49:30,429 --> 00:49:32,389
that had to be dragged into the present,
894
00:49:32,472 --> 00:49:33,932
and it took them a long time.
895
00:49:34,433 --> 00:49:36,894
Nobody's grooming, necessarily,
896
00:49:36,977 --> 00:49:39,188
the next Sidney Poitier,
you know what I mean?
897
00:49:39,271 --> 00:49:41,398
Sidney's like a... He's like a complex.
898
00:49:41,481 --> 00:49:44,484
There's a Sidney Poitier complex.
It's like a matrix.
899
00:49:44,568 --> 00:49:46,195
And in the way that racism works,
900
00:49:46,278 --> 00:49:48,280
it's like it really is, like,
a Highlander thing.
901
00:49:48,363 --> 00:49:49,656
We got Sidney.
902
00:49:49,740 --> 00:49:52,451
Like, what do we need other Negroes for?
903
00:49:52,534 --> 00:49:57,706
He was a race soldier who's leading
the army for everybody else
904
00:49:58,457 --> 00:50:03,337
but who really, fully got
that he was not defined by his color.
905
00:50:04,004 --> 00:50:09,718
And he wasn't saying it
as resistance or as explanation.
906
00:50:09,801 --> 00:50:11,595
It just was a fact.
907
00:50:11,678 --> 00:50:14,806
There's so much about us and around us
908
00:50:14,890 --> 00:50:19,102
that has been instrumental
in some of the turns I have made,
909
00:50:19,186 --> 00:50:21,104
some of the choices I have made.
910
00:50:21,188 --> 00:50:23,023
And some of those choices were not
911
00:50:23,106 --> 00:50:27,778
just me looking at the scoreboard
of life and saying,
912
00:50:27,861 --> 00:50:30,822
"This is what I should do.
This is what I intend to do."
913
00:50:30,906 --> 00:50:35,244
No. [Stammers] You live according
914
00:50:35,327 --> 00:50:38,121
to the values that drives you.
915
00:50:52,803 --> 00:50:55,323
[Goudsouzian] Lilies of the Field is
this low-budget production,
916
00:50:55,389 --> 00:50:57,808
sort of this modest story
about a Black handyman
917
00:50:57,891 --> 00:51:00,853
who arrives in the American Southwest
at a nunnery, or a group of nuns,
918
00:51:00,936 --> 00:51:02,604
and he helps to build them a church.
919
00:51:02,688 --> 00:51:06,608
God is good.
He has sent me a big, strong man.
920
00:51:06,692 --> 00:51:09,069
He didn't say anything to me
about sending me anyplace.
921
00:51:09,152 --> 00:51:10,279
I was just passing by.
922
00:51:10,362 --> 00:51:13,115
[Lee] '63, I was, uh, six years old.
923
00:51:13,198 --> 00:51:17,035
I'm like, "Sidney, leave.
Why you messing around with them?"
924
00:51:17,119 --> 00:51:18,161
[chuckles]
925
00:51:18,245 --> 00:51:20,455
"Get in your car." And... And I was
926
00:51:20,539 --> 00:51:22,833
I mean, this is what I thought
at six years old.
927
00:51:22,916 --> 00:51:28,922
He said, "They can't pay me enough.
They are not offering anything."
928
00:51:29,006 --> 00:51:31,008
I said, "Sidney, you know what you can do?
929
00:51:31,091 --> 00:51:34,469
Do the movie not for a salary,
930
00:51:34,553 --> 00:51:38,515
but do the film as part of ownership."
931
00:51:38,599 --> 00:51:42,144
He said, "I never thought of that."
I said, "Think and know it."
932
00:51:42,227 --> 00:51:44,372
[Goudsouzian] The role is
first offered to Harry Belafonte.
933
00:51:44,396 --> 00:51:45,480
He turns it down. He says,
934
00:51:45,564 --> 00:51:48,400
"This man doesn't have
any connection to a larger world."
935
00:51:48,483 --> 00:51:50,861
[Belafonte] Terrible movie. Terrible.
936
00:51:50,944 --> 00:51:52,905
The most awful movie I'd ever read.
937
00:51:52,988 --> 00:51:55,866
And I turned it down with a great flair.
938
00:51:56,450 --> 00:51:58,368
And Sidney Poitier took the part.
939
00:51:59,453 --> 00:52:01,455
He was wonderful in that picture.
940
00:52:01,538 --> 00:52:03,874
Harry was singing too.
He had another career.
941
00:52:03,957 --> 00:52:05,542
Harry was doing all right. [Stammers]
942
00:52:05,626 --> 00:52:07,544
Harry could afford to turn stuff down.
943
00:52:07,628 --> 00:52:10,923
You could turn stuff down when...
You know, when the house is paid for.
944
00:52:11,006 --> 00:52:15,302
Not knocking Harry,
but Harry was, you know, Day-O'ing.
945
00:52:15,385 --> 00:52:16,863
[singing "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)"]
946
00:52:16,887 --> 00:52:17,930
Okay?
947
00:52:18,013 --> 00:52:20,224
[singing continues]
948
00:52:20,307 --> 00:52:21,987
[Freeman] When we were doing Hello, Dolly!
949
00:52:22,017 --> 00:52:24,561
I was on Broadway with Pearl Bailey.
950
00:52:24,645 --> 00:52:27,898
And whenever anybody
who was anybody came to the show,
951
00:52:27,981 --> 00:52:29,942
she would invite 'em up on stage.
952
00:52:30,025 --> 00:52:31,610
And they would do…
953
00:52:31,693 --> 00:52:34,238
[sings]
954
00:52:34,863 --> 00:52:37,616
So she asked Sidney up when he came.
955
00:52:37,699 --> 00:52:40,244
And she said, "Come on, Sidney.
Let's... Let's do it."
956
00:52:40,327 --> 00:52:43,705
And he said, "I can't sing!" [laughs]
957
00:52:43,789 --> 00:52:45,541
Okay. Now here we go. [Clears throat]
958
00:52:45,624 --> 00:52:47,876
[singing "Amen"]
959
00:52:47,960 --> 00:52:50,087
[Freeman] She said,
"What are you talking about?
960
00:52:50,170 --> 00:52:52,339
I saw you hollering
in Lilies of the Field."
961
00:52:52,422 --> 00:52:54,550
He said, "That was somebody else!"
[laughing]
962
00:52:54,633 --> 00:53:00,639
[singing continues]
963
00:53:01,348 --> 00:53:02,432
Now, come on.
964
00:53:02,516 --> 00:53:05,060
[singing continues]
965
00:53:05,143 --> 00:53:08,188
[Goudsouzian] This tiny, low-budget
film builds an audience over time.
966
00:53:08,272 --> 00:53:10,691
It plugs into a certain mood
in the country.
967
00:53:10,774 --> 00:53:11,775
And then in particular
968
00:53:11,859 --> 00:53:14,736
there's an appreciation
for Poitier's character, Homer Smith,
969
00:53:14,820 --> 00:53:16,071
and for Poitier's performance.
970
00:53:16,154 --> 00:53:19,366
This very sweet, endearing style
that he brings to the movie.
971
00:53:19,449 --> 00:53:21,493
And it just captures the right mood.
972
00:53:21,577 --> 00:53:23,257
[Poitier] I think the kind of part it was,
973
00:53:23,287 --> 00:53:28,125
I think it was a lovable, wonderful,
uplifting character,
974
00:53:28,208 --> 00:53:31,044
the reflection of whom is to be found
975
00:53:31,128 --> 00:53:33,505
in the better part of all human beings.
976
00:53:38,427 --> 00:53:39,803
[reporter] Hollywood's big night.
977
00:53:39,887 --> 00:53:42,055
For the 36th time,
the world's amusement capital
978
00:53:42,139 --> 00:53:44,933
recognizes the year's
top artists and achievements
979
00:53:45,017 --> 00:53:47,728
with the bestowal of the coveted Oscars.
980
00:53:47,811 --> 00:53:50,772
[Oprah] I was just
a ten-year-old kid in Milwaukee.
981
00:53:50,856 --> 00:53:53,108
I'm watching this thing
called the Academy Awards,
982
00:53:53,192 --> 00:53:58,113
and you're seeing people pulling up
in limousines and the whole thing.
983
00:53:58,697 --> 00:54:02,159
And any time a Black person
was on television,
984
00:54:02,242 --> 00:54:04,703
I remember literally
getting on the phone going,
985
00:54:04,786 --> 00:54:06,890
"Colored people on, colored people.
Colored people on!
986
00:54:06,914 --> 00:54:08,207
Colored people. Turn on now."
987
00:54:08,290 --> 00:54:10,000
And I'd end up missing whatever it was.
988
00:54:10,667 --> 00:54:12,836
The nominees for
the best performance by an actor
989
00:54:12,920 --> 00:54:15,047
are Albert Finney in Tom Jones,
990
00:54:16,173 --> 00:54:18,175
Richard Harris in This Sporting Life,
991
00:54:19,301 --> 00:54:21,053
Rex Harrison in Cleopatra,
992
00:54:23,013 --> 00:54:24,556
Paul Newman in Hud,
993
00:54:25,390 --> 00:54:27,559
Sidney Poitier in Lilies of the Field.
994
00:54:27,643 --> 00:54:29,478
[audience applauds]
995
00:54:29,561 --> 00:54:32,022
The winner is Sidney Poitier
in Lilies of the Field.
996
00:54:32,105 --> 00:54:33,315
[audience cheering]
997
00:54:33,398 --> 00:54:34,816
[Poitier] When my name was called,
998
00:54:34,900 --> 00:54:37,110
I jumped up saying,
999
00:54:37,194 --> 00:54:41,490
"I won! I won! I won!"
1000
00:54:41,573 --> 00:54:43,492
Well, I couldn't help that.
1001
00:54:44,076 --> 00:54:46,912
It was an expression of self,
1002
00:54:46,995 --> 00:54:49,289
but it was also an expression
1003
00:54:49,373 --> 00:54:51,667
that belonged to an awful lot of people.
1004
00:54:51,750 --> 00:54:53,418
Can you imagine?
1005
00:54:53,502 --> 00:54:56,171
This was before we had a Civil Rights Act.
1006
00:54:56,255 --> 00:54:58,215
Can you imagine the shock in that room?
1007
00:54:58,298 --> 00:55:03,720
Can you imagine just the sheer joy, magic,
1008
00:55:03,804 --> 00:55:07,975
and something utterly divine
happening in that moment
1009
00:55:08,058 --> 00:55:12,938
that surpassed everything else
that was happening in the culture.
1010
00:55:13,021 --> 00:55:16,108
[reporter] Mr. Poitier is the first
Negro to win such a high award,
1011
00:55:16,191 --> 00:55:18,819
and the announcement is
received warmly by the audience.
1012
00:55:18,902 --> 00:55:21,655
[applauding continues]
1013
00:55:24,658 --> 00:55:27,244
[Poitier] It was a turning point,
1014
00:55:27,327 --> 00:55:28,912
truly a turning point
1015
00:55:28,996 --> 00:55:32,457
in a Hollywood that had chosen
1016
00:55:32,541 --> 00:55:36,879
to articulate us, Black people,
1017
00:55:37,713 --> 00:55:41,842
as entirely different than we were.
1018
00:55:42,384 --> 00:55:48,348
Because it is a long journey
to this moment,
1019
00:55:49,391 --> 00:55:52,436
I am naturally indebted
1020
00:55:52,519 --> 00:55:56,106
to countless numbers of people.
1021
00:55:56,190 --> 00:55:58,734
He was the great Black hope for me.
1022
00:55:58,817 --> 00:56:01,236
In that moment, he became
the great Black hope for me.
1023
00:56:01,320 --> 00:56:03,614
I remember distinctly feeling
1024
00:56:04,615 --> 00:56:06,909
that if this could happen
to a colored man,
1025
00:56:06,992 --> 00:56:10,120
I wonder what could happen to me.
1026
00:56:10,204 --> 00:56:14,041
All I can say is a very special thank you.
1027
00:56:14,124 --> 00:56:17,544
[audience applauding]
1028
00:56:19,087 --> 00:56:21,673
["We're a Winner" playing]
1029
00:56:37,606 --> 00:56:39,441
[people cheering]
1030
00:56:39,525 --> 00:56:41,401
[song continues]
1031
00:56:44,655 --> 00:56:46,299
[Washington]
He made it for a lot of people,
1032
00:56:46,323 --> 00:56:48,742
not just those of us that came after him,
1033
00:56:48,825 --> 00:56:50,744
but Sidney's parents and grandparents
1034
00:56:50,827 --> 00:56:53,121
and going all the way back to slavery.
1035
00:56:53,205 --> 00:56:57,209
Imagine what they felt like
when "he made it."
1036
00:57:00,379 --> 00:57:02,422
[crowd cheering]
1037
00:57:04,383 --> 00:57:08,387
To be the first Black man, Bahamian man,
1038
00:57:08,470 --> 00:57:10,305
to win Best Actor
1039
00:57:10,389 --> 00:57:13,600
in a time where that was
virtually impossible,
1040
00:57:13,684 --> 00:57:16,353
you had to be a hundred times better
than everybody else.
1041
00:57:16,436 --> 00:57:18,981
[song continues]
1042
00:57:21,066 --> 00:57:23,318
[Poitier]
It was extraordinary for the time,
1043
00:57:23,402 --> 00:57:26,572
not so much because I was
that good and I was that pure.
1044
00:57:26,655 --> 00:57:29,950
I was not that good or that pure.
1045
00:57:30,826 --> 00:57:34,329
But there was something in me
that I was carrying forth
1046
00:57:34,413 --> 00:57:36,373
that was in my mom,
1047
00:57:36,957 --> 00:57:42,129
what she did as a mother for my survival.
1048
00:57:44,464 --> 00:57:46,550
I was not expected to live, no.
1049
00:57:46,633 --> 00:57:48,635
I was not expected to live
when I was born.
1050
00:57:48,719 --> 00:57:52,639
I was born two months premature.
1051
00:57:53,140 --> 00:57:56,059
My father left the house
the following morning
1052
00:57:56,143 --> 00:57:58,896
when it was determined
by everyone present,
1053
00:57:58,979 --> 00:58:01,648
including the midwife,
that I would not survive.
1054
00:58:02,733 --> 00:58:08,155
He came back to the house with a shoebox.
1055
00:58:10,574 --> 00:58:11,658
And…
1056
00:58:14,411 --> 00:58:17,289
They were prepared to tuck me away.
1057
00:58:18,874 --> 00:58:21,043
Well… [clears throat]
…my mother wouldn't hear of it.
1058
00:58:21,126 --> 00:58:22,961
She said, "No, you can't do that."
1059
00:58:23,837 --> 00:58:25,130
And she left the house,
1060
00:58:25,214 --> 00:58:29,801
and she went everywhere she thought
she would find some support.
1061
00:58:29,885 --> 00:58:34,806
And she passed the home of a soothsayer.
1062
00:58:34,890 --> 00:58:38,268
My mother said,
"I have a child that was just born.
1063
00:58:38,352 --> 00:58:39,895
He was a very early birth,
1064
00:58:39,978 --> 00:58:43,106
and I want you to tell me about my son."
1065
00:58:44,358 --> 00:58:49,112
The soothsayer closed her eyes,
and her face began to twitch.
1066
00:58:49,196 --> 00:58:52,241
And her eyes were rolling
back and forth behind her lids.
1067
00:58:54,660 --> 00:58:58,205
And all at once,
the soothsayer's eyes flew open
1068
00:58:58,288 --> 00:59:00,999
and she said, "Don't worry about your son."
1069
00:59:04,336 --> 00:59:05,546
He will survive.
1070
00:59:06,380 --> 00:59:11,802
He will travel to
most of the corners of the earth.
1071
00:59:11,885 --> 00:59:13,470
"He will be rich and famous."
1072
00:59:14,304 --> 00:59:17,099
That I would carry her name
all over the world.
1073
00:59:18,308 --> 00:59:21,812
And of all the things she said.
1074
00:59:23,939 --> 00:59:25,566
I have lived them.
1075
00:59:27,818 --> 00:59:32,155
[announcer] NBC News presents
Chaney, Goodman, Schwerner.
1076
00:59:32,239 --> 00:59:35,075
A special report on
the three workers for civil rights
1077
00:59:35,158 --> 00:59:36,994
still missing in Mississippi.
1078
00:59:37,077 --> 00:59:40,372
James Chaney, Andrew Goodman,
and Michael Schwerner
1079
00:59:40,455 --> 00:59:43,000
went to Mississippi to
help register Negroes as voters.
1080
00:59:43,083 --> 00:59:45,335
I had just gotten into the movement then.
1081
00:59:46,295 --> 00:59:49,006
And I just got off a C truck.
1082
00:59:49,089 --> 00:59:51,758
I knew all of them except for Goodman.
1083
00:59:52,342 --> 00:59:53,802
And they were teachers.
1084
00:59:53,886 --> 00:59:57,097
They taught... You know,
was teaching people what a vote is,
1085
00:59:57,181 --> 01:00:00,350
how it got to be a vote
because we didn't know.
1086
01:00:00,434 --> 01:00:04,104
For what I can see, they were
teaching the American Dream.
1087
01:00:04,188 --> 01:00:07,316
Vote, and the choice is yours.
1088
01:00:08,025 --> 01:00:09,902
Don't vote, and the choice is theirs.
1089
01:00:09,985 --> 01:00:13,280
Remember to vote, and the choice is yours.
1090
01:00:13,363 --> 01:00:15,949
One time there was a kind of
frightening thing happened to you,
1091
01:00:16,033 --> 01:00:17,326
uh, when you were down south.
1092
01:00:17,409 --> 01:00:19,429
And I've heard vague details of it,
but could you
1093
01:00:19,453 --> 01:00:21,330
I've never heard you
tell the story of that.
1094
01:00:21,413 --> 01:00:23,498
Sidney and I
have been friends for 26 years.
1095
01:00:23,582 --> 01:00:26,960
Uh, I don't think any single
experience has passed between us
1096
01:00:27,044 --> 01:00:30,422
which, uh, gave us a greater bond
than that moment.
1097
01:00:31,089 --> 01:00:34,009
[Poitier] My good friend,
Harry Belafonte, called to say,
1098
01:00:34,092 --> 01:00:36,929
"I want you to go with me to Mississippi.
1099
01:00:37,012 --> 01:00:40,265
We have to take some money
down to the Civil Rights Movement."
1100
01:00:40,349 --> 01:00:41,892
The group in that particular area
1101
01:00:41,975 --> 01:00:45,312
was desperately short of funds
and needed the relief.
1102
01:00:45,395 --> 01:00:49,024
We will treat anyone with great
respect here in Mississippi,
1103
01:00:49,107 --> 01:00:52,319
anyone who comes here,
as long as they do not ob...
1104
01:00:52,402 --> 01:00:53,946
Disobey our laws.
1105
01:00:54,029 --> 01:00:57,824
Phone calls and threats was
coming in by the day, by the night.
1106
01:00:57,908 --> 01:01:02,621
They wanted to assassinate
Belafonte and Poitier. [Chuckles]
1107
01:01:02,704 --> 01:01:03,705
The words they used,
1108
01:01:03,789 --> 01:01:06,333
"We gonna kill them niggers
that come to Greenwood."
1109
01:01:06,416 --> 01:01:08,418
I had assumed that, uh...
1110
01:01:08,502 --> 01:01:10,546
With my association with Bobby Kennedy
1111
01:01:10,629 --> 01:01:12,965
that a phone call
to the Justice Department
1112
01:01:13,048 --> 01:01:16,093
telling them that I would be going
and my whereabouts, uh...
1113
01:01:16,176 --> 01:01:18,345
We would be able
to get federal protection.
1114
01:01:18,428 --> 01:01:19,721
When we got there, uh...
1115
01:01:19,805 --> 01:01:23,183
Absolutely no evidence of
federal marshals or protection.
1116
01:01:23,267 --> 01:01:25,435
We got into a car...
We were met by two cars,
1117
01:01:25,519 --> 01:01:29,022
one that we would ride in,
and the other that was a backup car.
1118
01:01:29,106 --> 01:01:31,108
Nobody wanted to drive the car.
1119
01:01:32,234 --> 01:01:33,777
I said I'd drive it.
1120
01:01:33,861 --> 01:01:38,407
And after the handshakes
and hellos and introductions,
1121
01:01:38,490 --> 01:01:41,368
the baggage went into my car.
1122
01:01:42,160 --> 01:01:45,914
And Poitier and Belafonte
1123
01:01:45,998 --> 01:01:48,458
was in the lead car.
1124
01:01:49,042 --> 01:01:50,687
[Poitier] As we were getting into the car,
1125
01:01:50,711 --> 01:01:52,713
somebody said, "There they are."
1126
01:01:52,796 --> 01:01:54,590
[car engines start]
1127
01:01:54,673 --> 01:01:57,968
Headlights went up. We saw
that they were Ku Klux Klaners.
1128
01:01:59,803 --> 01:02:01,346
[Poitier] We moved out.
1129
01:02:01,430 --> 01:02:03,307
And as the trucks tried to catch us,
1130
01:02:03,390 --> 01:02:07,644
the third car would move over
to block any attempt to pass.
1131
01:02:09,646 --> 01:02:12,357
[imitates crash]
They ran into the back of the car.
1132
01:02:12,441 --> 01:02:15,861
And my first thought,
"Do not let them pass."
1133
01:02:15,944 --> 01:02:16,987
[tires squeal]
1134
01:02:17,070 --> 01:02:20,616
And they constantly rammed
the car behind us
1135
01:02:20,699 --> 01:02:23,952
to move them or to throw them
off the highway to get to us.
1136
01:02:24,036 --> 01:02:25,829
Whatever happens, don't let 'em by.
1137
01:02:25,913 --> 01:02:28,957
If they shoot you from the rear,
that's the way I have to die.
1138
01:02:29,041 --> 01:02:31,668
[tires squeal]
1139
01:02:34,671 --> 01:02:37,966
We played bump-and-run
for a couple of miles.
1140
01:02:38,550 --> 01:02:41,386
They couldn't get by me.
They broke it off.
1141
01:02:42,638 --> 01:02:46,475
And a pile of students
got into the available automobiles
1142
01:02:46,558 --> 01:02:48,477
and all showed up on the highway
1143
01:02:48,560 --> 01:02:51,980
and, uh, brought us into Greenwood
with the money.
1144
01:02:52,064 --> 01:02:53,774
And we arrived safely.
1145
01:02:53,857 --> 01:02:55,859
It was like something out of the Bible.
1146
01:02:55,943 --> 01:02:58,779
People were up trees. [Chuckles]
1147
01:02:58,862 --> 01:03:03,367
And for that whole block,
people were just jammed everywhere.
1148
01:03:04,284 --> 01:03:08,497
And it b... bring me to tears.
1149
01:03:09,665 --> 01:03:14,753
The people that was up the trees
and in the rafters,
1150
01:03:15,921 --> 01:03:17,381
that was magic.
1151
01:03:19,091 --> 01:03:20,968
And when they saw Poitier,
1152
01:03:21,051 --> 01:03:24,471
they just start singing that song
from Lilies of the Field,
1153
01:03:24,555 --> 01:03:25,639
"Amen."
1154
01:03:25,722 --> 01:03:28,225
[Poitier as Homer Smith singing "Amen"]
1155
01:03:28,308 --> 01:03:30,352
It... It was something special.
1156
01:03:30,435 --> 01:03:34,273
[Homer, nuns continue singing]
1157
01:03:39,278 --> 01:03:43,866
And, you know, every year,
about March and April,
1158
01:03:44,491 --> 01:03:49,329
the newspapers start writing about
the long, hot summer ahead.
1159
01:03:49,830 --> 01:03:51,874
[gunshots]
1160
01:03:53,625 --> 01:03:57,754
Looting, murder, and arson
have nothing to do with civil rights.
1161
01:04:04,303 --> 01:04:05,947
[Charles Evers]
We're sick, and we're tired.
1162
01:04:05,971 --> 01:04:09,516
We're not gonna be pushed no further
by no white folks from no place.
1163
01:04:09,600 --> 01:04:10,601
And we mean it.
1164
01:04:10,684 --> 01:04:14,730
What I remember vividly is
when I was about, uh, ten years old,
1165
01:04:14,813 --> 01:04:17,983
it was 1967, and it was kind of
the summer of Sidney.
1166
01:04:18,066 --> 01:04:20,819
And my mother took me to see
To Sir, with Love,
1167
01:04:20,903 --> 01:04:23,363
In the Heat of the Night,
and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.
1168
01:04:23,447 --> 01:04:25,657
We'd had Black stars in movies,
1169
01:04:25,741 --> 01:04:27,659
but Sidney's probably
the first Hollywood...
1170
01:04:27,743 --> 01:04:29,453
Truly Hollywood Black movie star.
1171
01:04:29,536 --> 01:04:32,831
People come to the theater
to see Sidney Poitier movies.
1172
01:04:32,915 --> 01:04:33,999
That just hadn't happened.
1173
01:04:34,082 --> 01:04:36,919
And white people came to the theater
to see Sidney Poitier movies,
1174
01:04:37,002 --> 01:04:38,837
more importantly, at a time
1175
01:04:38,921 --> 01:04:40,756
when the Civil Rights Movement
is happening
1176
01:04:40,839 --> 01:04:42,758
and he becomes an exemplar of that.
1177
01:04:42,841 --> 01:04:47,638
[Oprah] Biggest box office draw,
Black man, 1967 to '68.
1178
01:04:47,721 --> 01:04:51,433
And the whole country
is spiraling around him.
1179
01:05:04,530 --> 01:05:06,031
On your feet, boy.
1180
01:05:09,701 --> 01:05:11,370
I mean now!
1181
01:05:11,453 --> 01:05:13,497
[Tate] I just remember being impressed
1182
01:05:13,580 --> 01:05:16,959
by this dude's unassailable dignity.
1183
01:05:17,042 --> 01:05:19,086
The film is really
playing with your expectations.
1184
01:05:19,169 --> 01:05:20,629
He's just not gonna take it.
1185
01:05:20,712 --> 01:05:24,466
But you wonder how long
he's gonna take it [chuckles]
1186
01:05:24,550 --> 01:05:25,676
before he explodes.
1187
01:05:26,426 --> 01:05:28,679
Well, you're pretty sure of yourself,
ain't you, Virgil?
1188
01:05:28,762 --> 01:05:30,490
"Virgil," that's a funny name
for a nigger boy
1189
01:05:30,514 --> 01:05:32,617
that comes from Philadelphia.
What do they call you up there?
1190
01:05:32,641 --> 01:05:35,602
They call me Mr. Tibbs.
1191
01:05:35,686 --> 01:05:37,813
"They call me Mr. Tibbs."
1192
01:05:37,896 --> 01:05:40,148
I loved it
'cause I talked back to the screen.
1193
01:05:40,232 --> 01:05:42,442
And the audience was mainly Black.
1194
01:05:42,526 --> 01:05:46,697
They burst out into applause
and they... they're just very alive.
1195
01:05:46,780 --> 01:05:49,366
[George] The famous scene in the hothouse
1196
01:05:49,449 --> 01:05:51,660
when the white plantation owner slaps him,
1197
01:05:51,743 --> 01:05:53,787
and Sidney slaps him back...
1198
01:05:53,871 --> 01:05:57,499
In a theater in 1967,
the impact was profound.
1199
01:05:57,583 --> 01:06:00,169
Was Mr. Colbert ever in this greenhouse,
1200
01:06:00,252 --> 01:06:02,629
say last night about midnight?
1201
01:06:06,091 --> 01:06:08,302
[Gossett Jr.]
Oh, you could hear a pin drop.
1202
01:06:08,385 --> 01:06:10,804
That's the loudest silence
I've ever seen in a theater.
1203
01:06:10,888 --> 01:06:12,556
You hear some… [gasps] You know?
1204
01:06:12,639 --> 01:06:14,319
Then people
looked at each other and stuff.
1205
01:06:14,349 --> 01:06:17,895
Black folks went crazy 'cause
they... they never seen that before.
1206
01:06:17,978 --> 01:06:19,563
[chuckles]
1207
01:06:19,646 --> 01:06:21,523
- Whop!
- Bam! [Laughs]
1208
01:06:21,607 --> 01:06:23,817
That had never happened
on the screen before.
1209
01:06:23,901 --> 01:06:25,485
He was just something else, man.
1210
01:06:25,569 --> 01:06:27,529
What are you gonna do about it?
1211
01:06:29,907 --> 01:06:31,158
I don't know.
1212
01:06:32,826 --> 01:06:34,244
You know what we all did?
1213
01:06:34,328 --> 01:06:36,872
"Yeah!" [laughs]
1214
01:06:38,081 --> 01:06:41,126
[Poitier] In the original script,
I looked at him with great disdain
1215
01:06:41,210 --> 01:06:44,254
and, wrapped in my strong ideals,
walked out.
1216
01:06:44,755 --> 01:06:47,216
That could've happened
with another actor playing that part,
1217
01:06:47,299 --> 01:06:49,176
but it couldn't happen with me.
1218
01:06:49,259 --> 01:06:52,221
I could too easily remember
that Miami night
1219
01:06:52,304 --> 01:06:54,556
with a gun pointed at my forehead.
1220
01:06:54,640 --> 01:06:58,685
I told the director that the script
needed to be changed.
1221
01:06:59,311 --> 01:07:01,605
I bet you only Sidney would pull that off.
1222
01:07:01,688 --> 01:07:03,732
He was a star. Bar none.
1223
01:07:03,815 --> 01:07:06,151
I mean, no... no doubt about it by then.
1224
01:07:06,235 --> 01:07:08,946
He's running through life elbowing shit.
1225
01:07:09,029 --> 01:07:11,865
"Out of my way." [chuckles]
1226
01:07:11,949 --> 01:07:13,909
[Poitier] And it indeed did turn out to be
1227
01:07:13,992 --> 01:07:15,994
a highlight moment in that film.
1228
01:07:16,078 --> 01:07:18,205
But it... it also spoke of our time.
1229
01:07:18,288 --> 01:07:23,085
It spoke of the time in America
when, in films at least,
1230
01:07:23,168 --> 01:07:26,046
we could step up to certain realities.
1231
01:07:26,129 --> 01:07:27,172
It's like everybody says,
1232
01:07:27,256 --> 01:07:29,656
it's the slap that was heard
around the world. Unprecedented.
1233
01:07:29,716 --> 01:07:32,094
It kinda rockets him into the moment.
1234
01:07:32,177 --> 01:07:34,847
So you've got this
interesting kind of alignment
1235
01:07:34,930 --> 01:07:36,682
between Sidney in that moment
1236
01:07:36,765 --> 01:07:39,268
and then what's happening
on the front lines.
1237
01:07:40,602 --> 01:07:42,312
[chattering]
1238
01:07:49,778 --> 01:07:51,363
[hands clap together]
1239
01:07:51,947 --> 01:07:55,158
To see this Black man
1240
01:07:55,242 --> 01:07:59,580
be a teacher and a mentor
to these children…
1241
01:07:59,663 --> 01:08:03,625
You know, it was always a white guy,
generally, who was the hero,
1242
01:08:03,709 --> 01:08:08,463
and the Black people were, you know,
being saved or the troublemakers.
1243
01:08:08,547 --> 01:08:10,966
And this just, like,
flipped the narrative on its head.
1244
01:08:11,550 --> 01:08:12,634
Sit down.
1245
01:08:14,595 --> 01:08:17,555
[Sherri] To Sir, with Love,
that was my favorite, really,
1246
01:08:17,639 --> 01:08:22,269
because I watched Dad
1247
01:08:22,352 --> 01:08:25,147
react the way he does with us.
1248
01:08:25,229 --> 01:08:30,652
Not only did he teach his kids,
but he taught everybody.
1249
01:08:30,736 --> 01:08:32,613
I... I saw him.
1250
01:08:33,613 --> 01:08:35,908
Everyone saw the actor.
1251
01:08:35,991 --> 01:08:37,868
I saw the father.
1252
01:08:37,951 --> 01:08:41,830
We are all going to observe
certain courtesies in this classroom.
1253
01:08:42,497 --> 01:08:44,750
You will call me "Sir" or "Mr. Thackeray."
1254
01:08:44,832 --> 01:08:47,336
The young ladies will be addressed
as "Miss,"
1255
01:08:47,836 --> 01:08:49,587
the boys by their surnames.
1256
01:08:49,671 --> 01:08:52,174
I always say I've got angels
on my shoulders,
1257
01:08:52,256 --> 01:08:54,510
because I am extremely lucky.
1258
01:08:54,593 --> 01:08:56,345
I was an artist. I was a musician.
1259
01:08:56,428 --> 01:08:58,680
I was a singer.
I had never done any acting.
1260
01:08:58,764 --> 01:08:59,765
Yeah.
1261
01:08:59,848 --> 01:09:01,558
My manager was very smart.
1262
01:09:01,642 --> 01:09:03,560
When they asked me to be in the movie,
1263
01:09:03,644 --> 01:09:06,188
she said, "Yes.
And she must sing the title song."
1264
01:09:06,270 --> 01:09:10,526
[singing "To Sir With Love"]
1265
01:09:24,413 --> 01:09:25,457
I mean…
1266
01:09:27,584 --> 01:09:31,296
[singing "To Sir With Love"]
1267
01:09:39,513 --> 01:09:42,640
[Lulu] For me to be connected
to that message,
1268
01:09:42,724 --> 01:09:46,603
that was a very powerful message.
1269
01:09:46,687 --> 01:09:49,398
It was all about the love.
1270
01:09:49,481 --> 01:09:50,899
It was about Black Lives Matter.
1271
01:09:50,983 --> 01:09:54,194
He is as important as all
you little white kids at the school.
1272
01:09:54,278 --> 01:09:58,866
He is more important, in fact,
in the life of that school
1273
01:09:58,949 --> 01:10:01,994
than anybody that they would ever
come across in their whole lives.
1274
01:10:02,661 --> 01:10:05,372
I had had a lot of hit records,
1275
01:10:05,455 --> 01:10:08,417
and I have had hit records after that too.
1276
01:10:08,500 --> 01:10:10,252
But that stands alone
1277
01:10:11,128 --> 01:10:13,213
because it wasn't just about a song.
1278
01:10:13,881 --> 01:10:19,136
It was about Sidney Poitier
and the message that that film had.
1279
01:10:19,219 --> 01:10:21,305
[cheering]
1280
01:10:21,388 --> 01:10:23,307
Speech! Speech!
1281
01:10:23,974 --> 01:10:25,267
[Tate] It's important to say
1282
01:10:25,350 --> 01:10:27,144
these movies
were not made for Black people.
1283
01:10:27,227 --> 01:10:28,478
Like, they were made
1284
01:10:28,562 --> 01:10:31,899
with him being very conscious
of the story he was telling
1285
01:10:31,982 --> 01:10:34,568
with an awareness of what was
happening with the movement,
1286
01:10:34,651 --> 01:10:36,612
with Dr. King's movement in particular.
1287
01:10:36,695 --> 01:10:40,741
But he's kind of a forerunner
in terms of mass media,
1288
01:10:40,824 --> 01:10:43,327
of, uh, kinda proving that
Black people were human.
1289
01:10:43,994 --> 01:10:47,456
Any time you can humanize Blackness,
1290
01:10:47,539 --> 01:10:49,666
humanize and normalize it
1291
01:10:49,750 --> 01:10:55,088
for a world that didn't think
we were even all human,
1292
01:10:55,172 --> 01:10:56,882
it helps the cause,
1293
01:10:56,965 --> 01:10:59,676
because that's what it's all about,
1294
01:10:59,760 --> 01:11:03,180
is allowing people
to see the humanity of us.
1295
01:11:03,847 --> 01:11:06,934
John Wade Prentice.
1296
01:11:07,017 --> 01:11:08,977
Isn't that a lovely name?
1297
01:11:09,061 --> 01:11:11,396
John Wade [gasps]
1298
01:11:12,314 --> 01:11:14,399
Joanna Prentice I'll be.
1299
01:11:14,483 --> 01:11:16,443
["Funky President
(People It's Bad)" playing]
1300
01:11:20,197 --> 01:11:21,406
This is John.
1301
01:11:23,700 --> 01:11:26,411
I'm so pleased to meet you.
1302
01:11:27,454 --> 01:11:29,581
I'm pleased to meet you, Mrs. Drayton.
1303
01:11:33,085 --> 01:11:35,254
Mrs. Drayton, I'm medically qualified,
1304
01:11:35,337 --> 01:11:37,130
so I hope you wouldn't think it
presumptuous
1305
01:11:37,214 --> 01:11:40,175
if I say you ought to sit down
before you fall down, I mean.
1306
01:11:40,259 --> 01:11:42,594
He thinks you're gonna faint
because he's a Negro.
1307
01:11:43,178 --> 01:11:47,474
I was 22 years old,
and Sidney was just sweet,
1308
01:11:47,558 --> 01:11:50,352
and I was very naive.
1309
01:11:50,435 --> 01:11:54,606
So, when that scene was shot,
the kiss scene,
1310
01:11:54,690 --> 01:11:58,485
I didn't think there was
any big deal about it.
1311
01:11:58,569 --> 01:12:00,988
The camera said,
"Okay, okay. We're ready to go."
1312
01:12:01,071 --> 01:12:05,200
And then I looked around
out there in the... in the studio,
1313
01:12:05,284 --> 01:12:09,496
and I... I saw all these very grim faces.
1314
01:12:11,206 --> 01:12:12,833
I didn't know what was happening.
1315
01:12:12,916 --> 01:12:15,294
And it wasn't until afterward
1316
01:12:15,377 --> 01:12:18,755
when I went to have my makeup taken off,
1317
01:12:18,839 --> 01:12:20,549
I... I asked the makeup woman.
1318
01:12:20,632 --> 01:12:23,051
I said, "What was going on in that room?"
1319
01:12:23,802 --> 01:12:27,431
And she just said, "Oh, you're so naive.
1320
01:12:27,514 --> 01:12:28,974
You don't know?"
1321
01:12:29,057 --> 01:12:31,852
And I said, "No, I don't know.
What was going on?"
1322
01:12:31,935 --> 01:12:33,454
An awful lot of people are gonna think
1323
01:12:33,478 --> 01:12:34,730
we're a very shocking pair.
1324
01:12:34,813 --> 01:12:36,053
Isn't that right, Mrs. Drayton?
1325
01:12:36,607 --> 01:12:38,317
I-I know what you mean.
1326
01:12:38,901 --> 01:12:40,360
[Poitier] I think it's all too easy
1327
01:12:40,444 --> 01:12:44,531
for anyone not a participant
in the cultural clashes of that era
1328
01:12:44,615 --> 01:12:49,578
to unfairly dismiss films such as
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner,
1329
01:12:49,661 --> 01:12:52,956
forgetting just how revolutionary
they were
1330
01:12:53,040 --> 01:12:55,042
in the context of their times.
1331
01:12:55,125 --> 01:12:57,461
Now, this affair here,
it all happened too fast.
1332
01:12:57,544 --> 01:12:58,629
You said so yourself.
1333
01:12:58,712 --> 01:13:01,173
Have you thought what
people would say about you?
1334
01:13:01,256 --> 01:13:03,759
Why, in 16 or 17 states,
you'd be breaking the law.
1335
01:13:03,842 --> 01:13:04,843
You'd be criminals.
1336
01:13:04,927 --> 01:13:07,012
That scene in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
1337
01:13:07,095 --> 01:13:10,015
where he says, "You think of yourself
as a colored man
1338
01:13:10,098 --> 01:13:11,725
and I think of myself as a man."
1339
01:13:11,808 --> 01:13:13,685
That defined Sidney Poitier.
1340
01:13:14,269 --> 01:13:15,479
You're my father.
1341
01:13:17,105 --> 01:13:19,525
I'm your son. I love you.
1342
01:13:20,651 --> 01:13:23,529
I always have, and I always will.
1343
01:13:25,697 --> 01:13:28,909
But you think of yourself
as a colored man.
1344
01:13:30,244 --> 01:13:33,372
I think of myself as a man.
1345
01:13:35,290 --> 01:13:37,334
That wasn't even an acting line for him
1346
01:13:37,417 --> 01:13:40,128
'cause that is who he is.
1347
01:13:40,212 --> 01:13:41,880
He thought of himself as a man.
1348
01:13:48,470 --> 01:13:50,824
[George] Those three movies
all were financially successful.
1349
01:13:50,848 --> 01:13:53,308
He wore a white shirt
and a tie in all three.
1350
01:13:53,392 --> 01:13:54,977
That's when he becomes Sir Sidney.
1351
01:13:55,060 --> 01:13:58,105
He already had made a mark
with Lilies of the Field in '63.
1352
01:13:58,188 --> 01:14:00,649
But suddenly he's not only honorable,
1353
01:14:00,732 --> 01:14:02,192
he's commercially viable.
1354
01:14:02,276 --> 01:14:03,694
And that just was unprecedented
1355
01:14:03,777 --> 01:14:06,113
at that point in history
of American cinema.
1356
01:14:06,196 --> 01:14:09,867
I asked him, "Do you have a film
you're going to do after this?"
1357
01:14:10,617 --> 01:14:12,119
And he said, "No."
1358
01:14:12,202 --> 01:14:15,789
He said, "I probably... This will be
the last film I'll ever make."
1359
01:14:16,373 --> 01:14:18,125
And I said, "Why?"
1360
01:14:18,208 --> 01:14:22,629
And he said, "Because the Black people,
1361
01:14:22,713 --> 01:14:26,675
my people, think that I'm an Uncle Tom."
1362
01:14:26,758 --> 01:14:28,552
[protesters chanting]
1363
01:14:28,635 --> 01:14:31,597
[Poitier] Given the quickly changing
social currents,
1364
01:14:31,680 --> 01:14:35,684
there was more than a little
dissatisfaction rising up against me
1365
01:14:35,767 --> 01:14:37,769
in certain corners of the Black community.
1366
01:14:37,853 --> 01:14:39,980
A cultural wave that would crest
1367
01:14:40,063 --> 01:14:42,149
when The New York Times
published an article
1368
01:14:42,232 --> 01:14:45,360
titled, "Why Do White Folks
Love Sidney Poitier So?"
1369
01:14:51,783 --> 01:14:53,952
[Poitier] According to a certain taste,
1370
01:14:54,036 --> 01:14:58,165
I was an Uncle Tom, even a house Negro,
1371
01:14:58,248 --> 01:15:02,211
for playing roles that were
non-threatening to white audiences,
1372
01:15:02,294 --> 01:15:07,674
for playing the noble Negro
who fulfills white liberal fantasies.
1373
01:15:16,308 --> 01:15:21,980
I am artist, man, American, contemporary.
1374
01:15:22,773 --> 01:15:24,274
I am an awful lot of things,
1375
01:15:24,358 --> 01:15:26,443
so I wish you would, uh [sucks teeth]
1376
01:15:27,027 --> 01:15:29,571
pay me the respect due.
1377
01:15:30,572 --> 01:15:32,491
[Lee] It's not easy being the first.
1378
01:15:32,574 --> 01:15:34,660
When you are an individual
1379
01:15:35,244 --> 01:15:39,915
that has to represent the entire race,
1380
01:15:40,415 --> 01:15:42,376
that's some Jackie Robinson shit.
1381
01:15:42,459 --> 01:15:45,963
You're taking the slings and arrows
for the entire race.
1382
01:15:46,046 --> 01:15:48,423
Sidney had to take
a lot of slings and arrows
1383
01:15:48,507 --> 01:15:51,176
that Denzel didn't have to take.
1384
01:15:51,260 --> 01:15:53,971
When you pray for rain,
you gotta deal with the mud too.
1385
01:15:55,305 --> 01:15:57,558
You know, he... he had...
He had big shoulders.
1386
01:15:57,641 --> 01:16:00,894
He was given big shoulders,
but he had to carry a lot of weight.
1387
01:16:00,978 --> 01:16:03,814
[Jones] There's a lot of pressure to
do everything right.
1388
01:16:03,897 --> 01:16:05,315
It's hard to know how to judge it.
1389
01:16:05,399 --> 01:16:08,777
But Sidney always
had my two favorite things,
1390
01:16:08,861 --> 01:16:13,657
and that is humility with his creativity
and grace with his success.
1391
01:16:16,493 --> 01:16:18,096
[interviewer] Did you feel that pressure?
1392
01:16:18,120 --> 01:16:19,830
[Poitier] You can't help but feel it.
1393
01:16:20,497 --> 01:16:22,374
You know it's there all the time.
1394
01:16:22,958 --> 01:16:25,919
You know that there is
a community of people watching
1395
01:16:26,003 --> 01:16:30,799
to see if you carry a banner that
they feel is close to their hearts,
1396
01:16:30,883 --> 01:16:35,053
and to determine
whether you are representative
1397
01:16:35,137 --> 01:16:37,139
of their imagery of you,
1398
01:16:37,222 --> 01:16:40,058
whether you should be welcomed or not.
1399
01:16:40,767 --> 01:16:43,520
- [interviewer] Was it lonely?
- [scoffs] "Was it lonely?"
1400
01:16:44,271 --> 01:16:45,856
Of course it was lonely.
1401
01:16:46,815 --> 01:16:49,359
It was lonely, yeah.
1402
01:16:49,943 --> 01:16:51,570
[crickets chirping]
1403
01:16:51,653 --> 01:16:53,447
- [gunshot]
- [crowd shouting]
1404
01:16:53,530 --> 01:16:55,073
[officials speak indistinctly]
1405
01:16:56,325 --> 01:16:58,619
[Robert F. Kennedy] Do they know
about Martin Luther King?
1406
01:16:58,702 --> 01:17:00,913
[official speaks indistinctly] We have...
1407
01:17:00,996 --> 01:17:03,540
Some very sad news for all of you.
1408
01:17:04,166 --> 01:17:08,212
And I think, uh, sad news
for all of our fellow citizens
1409
01:17:09,087 --> 01:17:12,216
and people who love peace
all over the world.
1410
01:17:13,008 --> 01:17:15,677
And that is that Martin Luther King
1411
01:17:15,761 --> 01:17:18,222
was shot and was killed tonight
in Memphis, Tennessee.
1412
01:17:18,305 --> 01:17:20,182
[crowd screams]
1413
01:17:21,475 --> 01:17:23,894
[announcer] NBC interrupts
its regular program schedule
1414
01:17:23,977 --> 01:17:26,188
to bring you the following special report.
1415
01:17:28,607 --> 01:17:32,861
Martin Luther King Jr. was killed
tonight in Memphis, Tennessee,
1416
01:17:32,945 --> 01:17:36,532
shot in the face as he stood alone
on the balcony of his hotel room.
1417
01:17:36,615 --> 01:17:38,700
He died in a hospital an hour later.
1418
01:17:39,952 --> 01:17:43,247
I remember coming home
on the bus in Pleasantville.
1419
01:17:43,330 --> 01:17:45,123
My dad met the bus
1420
01:17:45,207 --> 01:17:47,668
at the end of the driveway at the mailbox.
1421
01:17:48,836 --> 01:17:50,629
And he got on the bus,
1422
01:17:50,712 --> 01:17:53,340
and he could barely stand up
because he's so tall.
1423
01:17:54,132 --> 01:17:56,635
And he looks at all the children.
1424
01:17:57,970 --> 01:18:01,598
And he said something universal to them,
1425
01:18:01,682 --> 01:18:04,184
something about, "A great man has been…".
1426
01:18:06,353 --> 01:18:09,356
"Taken from us." And he put it that way.
1427
01:18:09,439 --> 01:18:12,484
"We should honor his great words
1428
01:18:12,568 --> 01:18:16,071
of treating everyone
with respect and dignity."
1429
01:18:16,822 --> 01:18:18,365
And the kids were, like, in awe.
1430
01:18:18,448 --> 01:18:20,248
They were just, like,
kinda looking up at him.
1431
01:18:20,325 --> 01:18:22,703
And then Daddy says,
"Okay, girls, let's go.
1432
01:18:22,786 --> 01:18:24,663
Let's go. Let's go home."
1433
01:18:24,746 --> 01:18:26,498
Ashes to ashes,
1434
01:18:27,541 --> 01:18:29,293
and dust to dust.
1435
01:18:29,877 --> 01:18:32,254
We thank God for giving us a leader
1436
01:18:32,337 --> 01:18:35,841
who was willing to die,
but not willing to kill.
1437
01:18:36,842 --> 01:18:40,095
It was '65 that Malcolm X was assassinated
1438
01:18:40,804 --> 01:18:41,930
in a mosque in Harlem.
1439
01:18:44,099 --> 01:18:47,644
It was '68 when Martin Luther King
was assassinated.
1440
01:18:48,979 --> 01:18:51,648
We have a more fragile democracy
1441
01:18:51,732 --> 01:18:54,818
in Judeo-Christian society than we think.
1442
01:18:55,903 --> 01:18:59,323
We're hanging together
by a few cultural threads.
1443
01:19:01,241 --> 01:19:04,661
And Sidney Poitier
is one of those cultural threads.
1444
01:19:08,498 --> 01:19:10,935
[Goudsouzian] The assassination of
Martin Luther King, in a lot of ways,
1445
01:19:10,959 --> 01:19:14,296
initiates a new era
in Poitier's professional life
1446
01:19:14,379 --> 01:19:17,549
and also with... with significant
personal dimensions as well.
1447
01:19:17,633 --> 01:19:19,593
The personal dimension
is not just, you know,
1448
01:19:19,676 --> 01:19:21,803
being set adrift
like so many African Americans
1449
01:19:21,887 --> 01:19:24,056
by the assassination
of Martin Luther King,
1450
01:19:24,139 --> 01:19:27,643
but also a rift with his best friend,
Harry Belafonte.
1451
01:19:27,726 --> 01:19:30,521
Both of them, in the immediate
aftermath of King's assassination,
1452
01:19:30,604 --> 01:19:33,815
participate in the discussions
about how best to memorialize King.
1453
01:19:33,899 --> 01:19:37,861
Belafonte wants to hold a big rally
in Atlanta after King's funeral.
1454
01:19:37,945 --> 01:19:39,780
Poitier advises against it,
1455
01:19:39,863 --> 01:19:42,157
saying that it would
detract attention from King.
1456
01:19:42,241 --> 01:19:45,285
This leads to sort of a zapping,
a certain tension between the two,
1457
01:19:45,369 --> 01:19:47,412
and they stopped speaking
for quite some time.
1458
01:19:47,496 --> 01:19:49,248
Two very opinionated people.
1459
01:19:49,915 --> 01:19:53,460
I mean, can I say that again?
Two very opinionated people.
1460
01:19:53,544 --> 01:19:56,421
And they didn't hold back,
you know, how they felt.
1461
01:19:56,922 --> 01:20:01,051
Harry wanted to do something and
really allow his community, I guess,
1462
01:20:01,134 --> 01:20:05,264
to, you know, show their grieving
and mourning in... in celebration.
1463
01:20:05,347 --> 01:20:07,057
And, you know, Poitier, I think,
1464
01:20:07,140 --> 01:20:09,476
rightly thought it would be a distraction.
1465
01:20:13,397 --> 01:20:14,690
It's a kind of testament
1466
01:20:14,773 --> 01:20:18,235
to how much thinking
folks had to do on their feet
1467
01:20:18,318 --> 01:20:23,031
in the... in the wake of just unforeseen,
brutal circumstances, you know?
1468
01:20:23,115 --> 01:20:25,242
I mean, just the, you know...
Just the trauma.
1469
01:20:25,826 --> 01:20:31,123
You know, for Poitier and Belafonte,
there had to be a reset moment there.
1470
01:20:33,000 --> 01:20:35,145
[Goudsouzian] So he is losing
his best friend in this...
1471
01:20:35,169 --> 01:20:37,546
In the same era when
so much else seems adrift.
1472
01:20:37,629 --> 01:20:39,149
He's obtained a divorce from his wife.
1473
01:20:39,173 --> 01:20:41,413
He tries to pursue his relationship
with Diahann Carroll.
1474
01:20:41,842 --> 01:20:44,469
[Poitier] As I have mentioned,
a large part of my father's legacy
1475
01:20:44,553 --> 01:20:46,805
is the lessons he taught his sons.
1476
01:20:46,889 --> 01:20:52,227
That teaching weighed heavily on me
when my first wife and I separated.
1477
01:20:52,311 --> 01:20:57,274
That breakup was a long, painful,
scarring period for all concerned.
1478
01:20:58,066 --> 01:21:00,152
It was really not fun for my mom,
1479
01:21:00,235 --> 01:21:03,447
and I think I felt more of that
than anything…
1480
01:21:05,199 --> 01:21:07,659
'Cause I didn't see
what my dad was going through,
1481
01:21:08,243 --> 01:21:09,723
but I saw what she was going through.
1482
01:21:09,786 --> 01:21:12,414
Friends decided
whose side they were going on,
1483
01:21:13,457 --> 01:21:17,336
so that was kind of, to me, painful.
Right?
1484
01:21:17,419 --> 01:21:19,129
'Cause my dad got the majority of 'em.
1485
01:21:19,213 --> 01:21:21,965
No more aunt...
No more "uncle" this or "aunt" that,
1486
01:21:22,049 --> 01:21:23,800
or godparents here or there.
1487
01:21:24,718 --> 01:21:26,136
That could bring tears to my eyes,
1488
01:21:26,220 --> 01:21:29,681
but, you know, people who supported her
1489
01:21:29,765 --> 01:21:31,141
I was grateful for.
1490
01:21:31,767 --> 01:21:34,686
[Poitier] Of course, too,
I was in love with another woman,
1491
01:21:34,770 --> 01:21:36,730
and the guilt of that was something
1492
01:21:36,813 --> 01:21:40,234
that 11 years of psychotherapy
couldn't cure.
1493
01:21:41,109 --> 01:21:43,654
"My wife doesn't understand me enough,"
1494
01:21:43,737 --> 01:21:45,697
I would say in cliché fashion.
1495
01:21:45,781 --> 01:21:50,202
And then I would say that
the other woman had her own agenda.
1496
01:21:50,702 --> 01:21:53,455
Each separation,
within a short period of time,
1497
01:21:53,539 --> 01:21:55,582
we were pursuing the relationship again.
1498
01:21:56,166 --> 01:21:58,836
And… [stammers] …I think we recognized,
1499
01:21:58,919 --> 01:22:01,171
long before the relationship was over,
1500
01:22:01,255 --> 01:22:03,423
that it was not a healthy relationship,
1501
01:22:03,507 --> 01:22:05,884
that it was not the kind of relationship
1502
01:22:05,968 --> 01:22:09,429
that could develop into even,
really, a good friendship.
1503
01:22:12,349 --> 01:22:16,270
It's interesting to see how quickly
pop culture can shift.
1504
01:22:16,353 --> 01:22:19,565
From '63, Lilies of the Field,
through '68 probably,
1505
01:22:19,648 --> 01:22:21,567
he's the guy, and he's setting the tone
1506
01:22:21,650 --> 01:22:23,443
for what a Black image looks like.
1507
01:22:23,527 --> 01:22:24,987
Two things are happening.
1508
01:22:25,070 --> 01:22:26,363
Black Power is happening.
1509
01:22:26,446 --> 01:22:28,490
["Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved"
playing]
1510
01:22:30,826 --> 01:22:33,662
[protesters shouting]
1511
01:22:33,745 --> 01:22:36,623
We're talking about
"Say it loud, I'm Black and proud."
1512
01:22:36,707 --> 01:22:39,334
And we were feeling ourselves as a people.
1513
01:22:39,418 --> 01:22:42,129
Afros, Soul Train.
1514
01:22:44,381 --> 01:22:46,216
And you have blaxploitation.
1515
01:22:48,051 --> 01:22:50,721
- [tires screech]
- Up yours! Get out of the way.
1516
01:22:52,931 --> 01:22:54,975
[speaks indistinctly]
1517
01:22:55,559 --> 01:22:57,936
[George] So now, the thing
that made him so revolutionary
1518
01:22:58,020 --> 01:22:59,313
in '67 and '68,
1519
01:23:01,231 --> 01:23:04,318
now he's passé because
now there's another generation
1520
01:23:04,401 --> 01:23:07,154
who are having sex
with white women on-screen,
1521
01:23:07,237 --> 01:23:09,781
who not just aren't slapping
white men but they're shooting 'em.
1522
01:23:11,700 --> 01:23:13,452
I mean, those Black exploitation films,
1523
01:23:13,535 --> 01:23:16,038
you know, it was all about
kicking whitey's ass.
1524
01:23:16,121 --> 01:23:18,540
[chuckles]
You know, that's what it was about.
1525
01:23:19,041 --> 01:23:22,294
And it's unfortunate
that they were a Black audience
1526
01:23:22,377 --> 01:23:25,839
that felt that Sidney,
you know, was not hip.
1527
01:23:25,923 --> 01:23:27,043
And I don't agree with that,
1528
01:23:27,090 --> 01:23:29,092
but if you just look at
the Black audience,
1529
01:23:29,176 --> 01:23:33,597
they went to these Black
exploitation films in droves... in droves.
1530
01:23:34,389 --> 01:23:37,809
Quincy Jones had a 42nd birthday
party for me at his house,
1531
01:23:38,393 --> 01:23:41,230
and Sidney Poitier was there.
1532
01:23:41,313 --> 01:23:44,483
And I remember going downstairs,
turning a corner,
1533
01:23:44,566 --> 01:23:46,610
and he was just standing there.
1534
01:23:46,693 --> 01:23:50,656
And I froze because here's my hero.
1535
01:23:51,156 --> 01:23:53,909
He just said, "How are you, my dear?
1536
01:23:53,992 --> 01:23:57,120
I have longed to meet you, my dear."
1537
01:23:57,955 --> 01:23:58,956
Oh!
1538
01:23:59,915 --> 01:24:02,334
And, um, I think... Of course, I teared up.
1539
01:24:02,417 --> 01:24:03,919
And I-I-I was just like,
1540
01:24:04,002 --> 01:24:07,381
"You don't even understand
what this moment means to me."
1541
01:24:07,464 --> 01:24:11,009
And at the time, I was getting a lot
of flak from the Black community
1542
01:24:11,718 --> 01:24:15,097
for not being Black enough,
not doing enough Black shows.
1543
01:24:15,180 --> 01:24:19,268
And he sat me down in a corner
at that party, at my 42nd birthday,
1544
01:24:19,351 --> 01:24:20,561
and he said,
1545
01:24:21,645 --> 01:24:24,606
"It's difficult when you're carrying
other people's dreams,
1546
01:24:25,190 --> 01:24:28,986
and so you have to hold on
to the dream that's inside yourself.
1547
01:24:29,069 --> 01:24:31,363
And know that if you are true to that,
1548
01:24:32,197 --> 01:24:33,824
"that's really all that matters."
1549
01:24:33,907 --> 01:24:37,703
And that was life changing for me
in that moment.
1550
01:24:38,287 --> 01:24:41,164
He was telling me about what
had happened to him, you know,
1551
01:24:41,248 --> 01:24:42,958
"Is Sidney Poitier Black enough?
1552
01:24:43,041 --> 01:24:45,586
Is he good enough? Is he really
representing what we want?"
1553
01:24:45,669 --> 01:24:48,380
And how that had made him feel inside,
1554
01:24:48,463 --> 01:24:50,591
that it took him down for a while.
1555
01:24:50,674 --> 01:24:54,928
He's just trying to make
the best decision, movie after movie,
1556
01:24:55,012 --> 01:25:00,434
based upon being
Reginald and Evelyn Poitier's son.
1557
01:25:01,059 --> 01:25:05,314
And then to be literally attacked that way
1558
01:25:05,397 --> 01:25:07,065
is an attack on your character,
1559
01:25:07,149 --> 01:25:09,443
on your being, on your value,
1560
01:25:09,526 --> 01:25:13,280
on your worth as a man and as a Black man.
1561
01:25:20,120 --> 01:25:23,498
[Poitier] When I prepared to start
shooting a film called The Lost Man,
1562
01:25:24,208 --> 01:25:27,294
nothing in my instincts led me to suspect
1563
01:25:27,377 --> 01:25:30,005
that the love of my life
was waiting in the wings.
1564
01:25:30,672 --> 01:25:34,259
My sister and I saw The Lost Man
for the first time
1565
01:25:34,343 --> 01:25:36,011
when we were in our 20s.
1566
01:25:36,970 --> 01:25:40,140
Nobody could get a copy of it
before then. Don't ask me why.
1567
01:25:40,766 --> 01:25:42,809
My mom, she was Canadian,
1568
01:25:42,893 --> 01:25:45,187
but she was living in Paris
and was doing French movies,
1569
01:25:45,270 --> 01:25:47,189
so they thought she was a French actress.
1570
01:25:47,272 --> 01:25:49,191
[speaking French]
1571
01:25:50,359 --> 01:25:52,986
[Poitier] When she was first
approached by Universal Pictures,
1572
01:25:53,070 --> 01:25:57,533
her initial question was,
"Who else will be starring in it?"
1573
01:25:57,616 --> 01:25:59,743
And when she was told, "Sidney Poitier,"
1574
01:25:59,826 --> 01:26:01,828
her response was, "Who's that?"
1575
01:26:02,496 --> 01:26:04,414
They said,
"Oh, but this is Sidney Poitier.
1576
01:26:04,498 --> 01:26:06,708
He's, like, the most famous actor ever."
1577
01:26:06,792 --> 01:26:10,420
And, um, I said, "Well,
I've never seen a movie of his."
1578
01:26:10,504 --> 01:26:12,548
So, I happened to be in London,
1579
01:26:12,631 --> 01:26:15,384
and a movie was playing, A Patch of Blue.
1580
01:26:15,843 --> 01:26:18,011
I thought, "Oh, he's awfully cute.
He's really cute."
1581
01:26:18,095 --> 01:26:21,640
I happened to be on the cover
of Vogue in America at that time
1582
01:26:21,723 --> 01:26:24,685
and also in a movie that was playing
in one of the art houses.
1583
01:26:24,768 --> 01:26:28,605
And then I went to LA, and I met Sidney.
1584
01:26:28,689 --> 01:26:31,191
And he was very nice.
1585
01:26:31,275 --> 01:26:33,694
You know, we had lunch and that was it.
1586
01:26:33,777 --> 01:26:37,072
I was engaged to be married
to somebody else at the time,
1587
01:26:37,155 --> 01:26:39,116
but, um…
1588
01:26:42,202 --> 01:26:43,704
The way you bite your lips…
1589
01:26:46,415 --> 01:26:47,958
[Poitier] It didn't take us long
1590
01:26:48,041 --> 01:26:50,544
once we started working
on the movie together
1591
01:26:50,627 --> 01:26:54,339
to wonder if, perhaps,
forces greater than ourselves
1592
01:26:54,423 --> 01:26:55,924
had brought us together.
1593
01:26:56,008 --> 01:26:59,511
This time,
I was ready to live the love story
1594
01:26:59,595 --> 01:27:02,973
that I had seen in my parents' marriage
1595
01:27:03,056 --> 01:27:04,474
at the start of my life.
1596
01:27:05,601 --> 01:27:07,269
The idea that they did a movie together
1597
01:27:07,352 --> 01:27:09,730
was couched within the story
of how they met.
1598
01:27:09,813 --> 01:27:13,859
So, really, it was the story of
how they met is what I remember.
1599
01:27:14,401 --> 01:27:15,628
[Anika] My parents didn't get married
1600
01:27:15,652 --> 01:27:17,821
until my sister and I were two and four.
1601
01:27:17,905 --> 01:27:21,033
My mom had taken us to the pediatrician.
1602
01:27:21,116 --> 01:27:22,951
They assumed she was the nanny.
1603
01:27:23,035 --> 01:27:27,206
She went home that day
and was like, "This is it."
1604
01:27:27,289 --> 01:27:29,958
"You're gonna marry me,
and you're gonna marry me this week.
1605
01:27:30,042 --> 01:27:32,503
And that's it."
And they got married that week.
1606
01:27:33,253 --> 01:27:34,671
[Joanna] It happened at our house.
1607
01:27:34,755 --> 01:27:36,256
We're in the middle of the ceremony
1608
01:27:36,340 --> 01:27:40,344
and little Sydney, who was two and a half,
comes up and tugs on Sidney's coat.
1609
01:27:40,427 --> 01:27:42,471
"Daddy, Daddy, what are you doing?"
1610
01:27:43,013 --> 01:27:46,099
And somebody said, "Your daddy
is marrying your mommy, honey."
1611
01:27:46,183 --> 01:27:47,976
[laughs] And she said, "Oh, okay."
1612
01:27:48,060 --> 01:27:50,312
And that was it. We got married.
1613
01:27:51,563 --> 01:27:54,483
Growing up,
a lot of the families around us
1614
01:27:54,566 --> 01:27:56,902
and a lot of our friends were biracial.
1615
01:27:56,985 --> 01:27:58,987
[Sydney] My parents had the foresight
1616
01:27:59,071 --> 01:28:01,823
to surround us with
other interracial families.
1617
01:28:01,907 --> 01:28:05,536
And so there was a little group of us
that knew each other very well,
1618
01:28:05,619 --> 01:28:09,331
and all of the kids played so that
we could feel like it was normal.
1619
01:28:09,414 --> 01:28:11,500
Quincy and Peggy. Kidada and Rashida.
1620
01:28:11,583 --> 01:28:13,836
Those were our... our main hangs.
1621
01:28:13,919 --> 01:28:16,880
Those were like our... our god sisters,
godparents, god families.
1622
01:28:16,964 --> 01:28:19,925
I think they did a good job
of protecting us
1623
01:28:20,008 --> 01:28:22,386
from the wider world's ideas about that.
1624
01:28:23,387 --> 01:28:25,973
My dad did not separate us.
They... He did not, like...
1625
01:28:26,056 --> 01:28:28,851
"Okay, this is one family.
This is the other family."
1626
01:28:28,934 --> 01:28:30,978
It was like, "No, this is my family."
1627
01:28:31,562 --> 01:28:34,940
And he made sure that
we understood that we were all one.
1628
01:28:35,023 --> 01:28:37,943
[Poitier-Henderson] As a father,
he measures up pretty damn well.
1629
01:28:38,026 --> 01:28:42,364
There are six of us,
and, you know, we're all...
1630
01:28:42,447 --> 01:28:43,907
We were all taken care of.
1631
01:28:43,991 --> 01:28:47,744
It also helped that he married
two very fantastic women.
1632
01:28:47,828 --> 01:28:49,788
And they're very, very much alike.
1633
01:28:49,872 --> 01:28:51,498
Joanna and my mother are very much alike
1634
01:28:51,582 --> 01:28:53,500
as far as being bighearted, you know?
1635
01:28:53,584 --> 01:28:56,879
Just bighearted and all about family.
1636
01:28:56,962 --> 01:28:58,672
His mother always told him,
1637
01:28:58,755 --> 01:29:01,842
"You take care of your children.
You take care of your family."
1638
01:29:02,176 --> 01:29:03,635
And to this day,
1639
01:29:04,428 --> 01:29:06,263
he has done just that.
1640
01:29:06,847 --> 01:29:11,185
He has instilled that
in all of us, to do that,
1641
01:29:11,268 --> 01:29:13,187
so we will protect each other.
1642
01:29:15,022 --> 01:29:17,858
In the early 1970s, uh,
an opportunity arises for Poitier
1643
01:29:17,941 --> 01:29:20,068
that will change his life
in a number of ways.
1644
01:29:20,152 --> 01:29:22,738
He gets a call from Harry Belafonte,
who he hasn't spoken to
1645
01:29:22,821 --> 01:29:26,200
since the assassination
of Martin Luther King in 1968.
1646
01:29:26,283 --> 01:29:27,576
How'd you find me?
1647
01:29:28,160 --> 01:29:29,661
I asked your horse.
1648
01:29:30,370 --> 01:29:33,582
Harry Belafonte called Sidney
saying, "I got a project for you."
1649
01:29:33,665 --> 01:29:36,585
I don't even know if he needed to
say anything more than that.
1650
01:29:36,668 --> 01:29:38,587
The sixth sense just went off, and…
1651
01:29:38,670 --> 01:29:41,465
"Well, yeah. Okay, where?
When? I'm there."
1652
01:29:50,516 --> 01:29:53,060
First of all, it was
Sidney's first directorial job.
1653
01:29:53,143 --> 01:29:54,937
When we originally set out to do the film,
1654
01:29:55,020 --> 01:29:56,355
Sidney was not the director.
1655
01:29:56,438 --> 01:29:58,565
He acquired this responsibility
1656
01:29:58,649 --> 01:30:00,859
just about a week
after we started shooting.
1657
01:30:00,943 --> 01:30:02,712
[Cavett] What happened
to the original director?
1658
01:30:02,736 --> 01:30:03,862
Uh…
1659
01:30:03,946 --> 01:30:05,113
[intruder shouts]
1660
01:30:05,906 --> 01:30:07,950
[items clattering]
1661
01:30:09,326 --> 01:30:12,538
After the first week of shooting,
Harry said to me,
1662
01:30:12,621 --> 01:30:15,624
"You know, I think we're going to
have to bring another director on."
1663
01:30:15,707 --> 01:30:17,835
He didn't get the texture of the material.
1664
01:30:17,918 --> 01:30:19,169
The texture of the material
1665
01:30:19,920 --> 01:30:25,217
intertwined American Indian culture
with African American culture.
1666
01:30:25,968 --> 01:30:28,554
There was never a movie I made
1667
01:30:28,637 --> 01:30:34,184
during which I didn't
watch the director very closely.
1668
01:30:34,268 --> 01:30:38,856
After doing such
for many, many, many years,
1669
01:30:38,939 --> 01:30:42,401
I had learned from what I saw.
1670
01:30:46,446 --> 01:30:51,159
I took the reins of the director,
and I directed for a week.
1671
01:30:51,243 --> 01:30:53,829
Columbia looked at
the week's work that I had done,
1672
01:30:54,580 --> 01:30:57,124
and they sent me a message.
1673
01:30:57,207 --> 01:31:00,127
They said, "We want you to
continue directing the movie,
1674
01:31:00,210 --> 01:31:03,088
and, uh, it's... it's...
What we see is okay by us."
1675
01:31:03,172 --> 01:31:05,358
- [Poitier] Action.
- [Belafonte] Blessings in his name.
1676
01:31:05,382 --> 01:31:07,050
I am the Reverend Willis Oaks Rutherford
1677
01:31:07,134 --> 01:31:09,928
of the High and Low Order
of the Holiness Persuasion Church.
1678
01:31:10,012 --> 01:31:11,805
Well, where are you from, Reverend?
1679
01:31:11,889 --> 01:31:13,724
Sunflower County, Mississippi mostly.
1680
01:31:13,807 --> 01:31:15,684
- [Poitier] Cut!
- [crew member] Jesus Christ.
1681
01:31:15,767 --> 01:31:17,436
[Poitier] Thank you. Brilliant.
1682
01:31:17,519 --> 01:31:19,646
- Okay, pick up.
- [crew member 2] Run it, please.
1683
01:31:19,730 --> 01:31:20,999
- You wanna go from the top?
- Yeah.
1684
01:31:21,023 --> 01:31:22,608
Okay, from the top.
1685
01:31:25,986 --> 01:31:28,655
That was a scene from
Buck and the Preacher,
1686
01:31:28,739 --> 01:31:31,617
which you should be seeing soon
at your local theaters.
1687
01:31:31,700 --> 01:31:33,368
How did you find it directing Harry?
1688
01:31:33,452 --> 01:31:36,246
Was he a star?
Did he have that star ego going?
1689
01:31:36,330 --> 01:31:38,790
[chuckles]
I'm so glad you asked that question.
1690
01:31:38,874 --> 01:31:40,167
[audience laughs]
1691
01:31:40,250 --> 01:31:43,879
The chemistry between Sidney and
Harry in the film was really great.
1692
01:31:43,962 --> 01:31:46,173
You can see that they
really like each other,
1693
01:31:46,256 --> 01:31:47,883
that there's a warmth there.
1694
01:31:47,966 --> 01:31:50,844
[Poitier] It will come as a surprise
to a great number of people
1695
01:31:50,928 --> 01:31:53,680
that he was the most cooperative actor
1696
01:31:53,764 --> 01:31:54,973
I have ever worked with.
1697
01:31:55,557 --> 01:31:59,603
And, uh, before hopefully
ten million people,
1698
01:31:59,686 --> 01:32:02,022
- I wanna say thank you, old B.
- [Belafonte chuckles]
1699
01:32:02,105 --> 01:32:03,106
[kisses]
1700
01:32:03,190 --> 01:32:04,650
[audience applauds]
1701
01:32:04,733 --> 01:32:07,152
As the most powerful actor...
Black actor in Hollywood,
1702
01:32:07,236 --> 01:32:10,072
and one of the most powerful actors
in Hollywood at that point,
1703
01:32:10,155 --> 01:32:11,949
him taking the reins was a great thing.
1704
01:32:12,032 --> 01:32:13,825
And then the kind of film he did,
1705
01:32:13,909 --> 01:32:16,453
because the film ends up dealing
with Blacks in the West,
1706
01:32:16,537 --> 01:32:17,538
which was a new topic
1707
01:32:17,621 --> 01:32:19,915
which pop culture
hadn't dealt with at all, really,
1708
01:32:19,998 --> 01:32:21,416
and only in dismissive ways.
1709
01:32:22,000 --> 01:32:24,962
[Poitier] We made it as
an entertainment with a statement.
1710
01:32:25,045 --> 01:32:27,339
We thought that Black people
played an important part
1711
01:32:27,422 --> 01:32:28,966
in the building of the West.
1712
01:32:29,466 --> 01:32:31,593
We want Black children to see that.
1713
01:32:31,677 --> 01:32:34,388
We can't forget about
what Sidney did as a filmmaker.
1714
01:32:35,055 --> 01:32:37,599
All the films he got
the opportunity... films that would...
1715
01:32:37,683 --> 01:32:39,852
We wouldn't have had
that particular slant...
1716
01:32:39,935 --> 01:32:43,313
That story wouldn't have been told
that way if it wasn't for Sidney.
1717
01:32:43,897 --> 01:32:45,065
"I'm Buck."
1718
01:32:46,108 --> 01:32:47,109
[imitates gunshot]
1719
01:32:47,192 --> 01:32:48,527
I'm Buck.
1720
01:32:53,532 --> 01:32:56,159
[Goudsouzian] We'll never again
see him become the towering actor
1721
01:32:56,243 --> 01:32:57,369
that he was in the 1960s.
1722
01:32:57,452 --> 01:32:59,830
He'll never again be
that same type of megastar.
1723
01:32:59,913 --> 01:33:02,291
On the other hand,
he comes to play a leadership role
1724
01:33:02,374 --> 01:33:04,376
in Black Hollywood in the 1970s
1725
01:33:04,459 --> 01:33:07,087
in ways that create
so many more opportunities
1726
01:33:07,171 --> 01:33:08,411
for those who come in his wake.
1727
01:33:08,964 --> 01:33:12,050
If there were equality of opportunity
in this business,
1728
01:33:12,134 --> 01:33:15,888
there'd be 15 Sidney Poitiers and ten
or 12 Belafontes, but there is not.
1729
01:33:15,971 --> 01:33:18,348
Or maybe the other way around.
Fifteen Belafontes and ten...
1730
01:33:18,432 --> 01:33:21,018
Watch it. Watch it. [Laughs]
1731
01:33:23,437 --> 01:33:27,232
[Streisand] In 1969,
we became business partners
1732
01:33:27,316 --> 01:33:28,734
along with Paul Newman.
1733
01:33:28,817 --> 01:33:31,278
It was a company called First Artists,
1734
01:33:31,987 --> 01:33:37,367
which was innovative because
the artists had creative control,
1735
01:33:37,451 --> 01:33:39,995
complete creative control
of the movies we made.
1736
01:33:40,078 --> 01:33:42,372
We got no money up front,
1737
01:33:42,456 --> 01:33:46,126
and we only made money
if the movie was a success.
1738
01:33:46,210 --> 01:33:47,503
I didn't care about the salary.
1739
01:33:47,586 --> 01:33:50,631
All I cared about
was the creative control.
1740
01:33:50,714 --> 01:33:53,800
I felt very honored being the only woman,
1741
01:33:54,426 --> 01:33:57,971
and I'm very proud of
my association with Sidney.
1742
01:33:58,055 --> 01:34:01,099
It was a hugely audacious move
to start a production company
1743
01:34:01,183 --> 01:34:02,935
being a Black man in Hollywood.
1744
01:34:04,269 --> 01:34:06,480
I think the feeling was,
1745
01:34:07,272 --> 01:34:09,441
he should just be happy with what he had.
1746
01:34:09,525 --> 01:34:12,486
"You... You're getting a lot of roles.
You're fine.
1747
01:34:12,569 --> 01:34:16,240
You don't need to then put yourself
in this position of power
1748
01:34:16,323 --> 01:34:18,951
where now you are creating the work."
1749
01:34:19,034 --> 01:34:23,705
It was just another proactive move
to sort of get his message out there.
1750
01:34:24,540 --> 01:34:26,458
[Poitier] What we all really wanted
1751
01:34:26,542 --> 01:34:31,338
was to be able to make movies
of our choice.
1752
01:34:31,421 --> 01:34:34,132
Make them ourselves, choose the material.
1753
01:34:34,216 --> 01:34:35,592
I made Uptown Saturday Night,
1754
01:34:35,676 --> 01:34:37,636
Let's Do It Again, A Piece of the Action.
1755
01:34:37,719 --> 01:34:39,471
They were all excellent films.
1756
01:34:39,555 --> 01:34:41,557
I thought it was the coolest damn thing.
1757
01:34:42,224 --> 01:34:43,984
Okay? I thought it was
the coolest damn thing
1758
01:34:44,017 --> 01:34:45,269
when Daddy became a director.
1759
01:34:45,352 --> 01:34:47,688
He had an understanding of the industry
1760
01:34:47,771 --> 01:34:50,816
and what needed to be done
and what could be done.
1761
01:34:50,899 --> 01:34:55,362
He was very much aware
that there weren't any at one point
1762
01:34:55,445 --> 01:34:59,032
and then a lot of African Americans
on set.
1763
01:34:59,116 --> 01:35:01,451
Anywhere. I mean, anywhere.
1764
01:35:02,035 --> 01:35:04,788
And he made his business to correct that.
1765
01:35:04,872 --> 01:35:06,123
We should underscore the fact
1766
01:35:06,206 --> 01:35:09,334
that you really put to work a lot
of Black people behind the scenes.
1767
01:35:09,418 --> 01:35:12,588
It's not just that we've got
an enormously talented Black cast...
1768
01:35:12,671 --> 01:35:15,674
Mm-hmm, yeah. We have 1,300 Black people
1769
01:35:15,757 --> 01:35:17,968
working, uh, on... on the film.
1770
01:35:18,051 --> 01:35:20,721
Atmosphere people,
technicians and all that.
1771
01:35:20,804 --> 01:35:23,473
1,276 are my relatives.
1772
01:35:23,557 --> 01:35:24,975
- Hmm! Good for them.
- [chuckles]
1773
01:35:25,058 --> 01:35:26,852
Well, Sidney was a race man,
1774
01:35:26,935 --> 01:35:30,272
so, how could he be directing this film,
1775
01:35:30,981 --> 01:35:33,192
everybody in front of the camera's Black,
1776
01:35:33,275 --> 01:35:35,628
everybody behind the camera's white?
He's not gonna do that.
1777
01:35:35,652 --> 01:35:38,697
That's not even a question.
Sidney ain't doing that.
1778
01:35:38,780 --> 01:35:42,576
Sidney's gonna make sure that he's
gonna put Black people positioned
1779
01:35:42,659 --> 01:35:45,871
where they can have a career,
behind the camera.
1780
01:35:46,455 --> 01:35:48,332
You have longer careers behind the camera
1781
01:35:48,415 --> 01:35:49,708
than in front of the camera.
1782
01:35:49,791 --> 01:35:52,294
[George] What's interesting
about Poitier as an actor now
1783
01:35:52,377 --> 01:35:54,463
is that he's passing the ball.
1784
01:35:54,546 --> 01:35:56,965
It's not always about him being the guy.
1785
01:35:57,049 --> 01:35:58,675
I look forward to working as a director.
1786
01:35:58,759 --> 01:36:00,719
I look forward to making decisions
in that area.
1787
01:36:00,802 --> 01:36:03,514
I look forward to dealing
with scripts and dealing with actors,
1788
01:36:03,597 --> 01:36:04,723
and cultivating a mood.
1789
01:36:04,806 --> 01:36:06,286
I look forward to painting a picture.
1790
01:36:07,017 --> 01:36:09,770
I don't, uh... I don't have
any such visions as an actor.
1791
01:36:09,853 --> 01:36:11,897
I think I've climbed
all the mountains I intended to
1792
01:36:11,980 --> 01:36:12,981
as an actor.
1793
01:36:16,318 --> 01:36:18,403
[Poitier] On 3rd Avenue in New York City,
1794
01:36:18,487 --> 01:36:19,613
I walked in one night.
1795
01:36:19,696 --> 01:36:22,824
The picture was playing.
It was called Let's Do It Again.
1796
01:36:23,408 --> 01:36:25,577
I walked in, and I stood in the back.
1797
01:36:25,661 --> 01:36:29,581
It was a packed house, so I stood
in the back watching the reaction.
1798
01:36:30,165 --> 01:36:31,792
There were Black women.
1799
01:36:31,875 --> 01:36:35,546
They are sitting there
laughing their heads off.
1800
01:36:35,629 --> 01:36:40,717
I mean, they were so overjoyed
with seeing these characters
1801
01:36:40,801 --> 01:36:44,179
because we drew characters
that they could embrace.
1802
01:36:44,263 --> 01:36:46,348
Well, with that response,
1803
01:36:46,431 --> 01:36:49,643
I decided I have to find
something else in that vein.
1804
01:36:50,310 --> 01:36:53,772
The comedies that I made,
we tried to design them
1805
01:36:53,856 --> 01:36:56,817
so that the people
who are going to sit there
1806
01:36:56,900 --> 01:36:59,778
are going to see themselves
1807
01:37:00,737 --> 01:37:02,197
in an embracing way.
1808
01:37:02,281 --> 01:37:05,534
So, Sidney Poitier is now
a comedy director.
1809
01:37:06,368 --> 01:37:08,912
I mean, you talk about
an unlikely turn of events.
1810
01:37:09,413 --> 01:37:13,333
He's a big comedy director,
and he does this movie
1811
01:37:13,834 --> 01:37:19,798
with the most volatile, charismatic
Black comedy talent, perhaps ever.
1812
01:37:19,882 --> 01:37:24,052
I hereby sentence you to serve 125 years
1813
01:37:24,136 --> 01:37:26,096
in the custody of the commissioner
1814
01:37:26,180 --> 01:37:28,515
- of the Department of Corrections.
- Wha... Wha...
1815
01:37:28,599 --> 01:37:31,894
When you look at... When you
watch Poitier's films as a director,
1816
01:37:31,977 --> 01:37:34,062
he's not a great visual stylist.
1817
01:37:34,146 --> 01:37:37,065
But what he is, is a great
director of performance.
1818
01:37:37,149 --> 01:37:41,820
And he's able to leave a space where
Gene Wilder can be funny as hell,
1819
01:37:41,904 --> 01:37:43,304
Richard Pryor can be funny as hell.
1820
01:37:43,363 --> 01:37:44,364
We didn't... I didn't.
1821
01:37:44,448 --> 01:37:46,700
- Our lawyer told us to come up...
- I know I didn't.
1822
01:37:46,783 --> 01:37:48,994
- I...
- [chuckles] No, he's joking.
1823
01:37:49,077 --> 01:37:51,055
- [scoffs] I told him...
- He means, we didn't do it.
1824
01:37:51,079 --> 01:37:53,624
- We didn't do it. [Chuckles]
- Have you got the right case?
1825
01:37:54,208 --> 01:37:55,393
[George] You'd never have guessed
1826
01:37:55,417 --> 01:37:57,753
his biggest success
as a director would be a comedy.
1827
01:37:57,836 --> 01:38:01,131
The guy who leads us
to Denzel and to Wesley,
1828
01:38:01,215 --> 01:38:03,717
he's also the guy who leads us
to Robert Townsend
1829
01:38:03,800 --> 01:38:05,302
and Keenen Ivory Wayans
1830
01:38:06,094 --> 01:38:09,056
because he's the first
big Hollywood comedy director.
1831
01:38:17,523 --> 01:38:19,123
- [child] He's strange.
- [Poitier] Okay.
1832
01:38:19,399 --> 01:38:21,944
- Say hi to Daddy.
- Hi, Daddy.
1833
01:38:22,528 --> 01:38:24,071
[Poitier] Stay there, Anika.
1834
01:38:25,280 --> 01:38:26,907
I see you, Sydney.
1835
01:38:26,990 --> 01:38:28,450
[giggling]
1836
01:38:29,076 --> 01:38:31,495
- What do you see?
- [child] You. [Chuckles]
1837
01:38:31,578 --> 01:38:34,540
- Well, that's where the money is…
- [child chuckling]
1838
01:38:34,623 --> 01:38:35,999
…as we say on the set.
1839
01:38:36,083 --> 01:38:39,211
Give me a smile. Okay.
1840
01:38:39,795 --> 01:38:40,796
Sydney P.?
1841
01:38:41,922 --> 01:38:44,091
[Sydney]
One thing I really admire about him
1842
01:38:44,174 --> 01:38:45,884
is, you know, a lot of times
1843
01:38:45,968 --> 01:38:49,388
when an actor's career is
starting to wane,
1844
01:38:49,471 --> 01:38:53,183
they will grasp at whatever
is coming their way, you know,
1845
01:38:53,267 --> 01:38:56,186
because their drive is to stay relevant
1846
01:38:56,270 --> 01:38:58,522
and to keep working as an actor.
1847
01:38:58,605 --> 01:39:01,066
And my dad, he doesn't have any of that.
1848
01:39:02,150 --> 01:39:03,819
[Poitier] I chose to step away.
1849
01:39:03,902 --> 01:39:08,740
You know, in life one ought not
to wind up in one's last moments
1850
01:39:08,824 --> 01:39:10,576
and be faced with the fact
1851
01:39:10,659 --> 01:39:13,287
that maybe one has spent one's entire life
1852
01:39:13,954 --> 01:39:16,123
in a narrow corridor.
1853
01:39:16,707 --> 01:39:20,210
And my career had been wonderful
for a great number of years.
1854
01:39:20,794 --> 01:39:25,674
Uh, I don't say that it would've
continued at the pace it was going.
1855
01:39:26,633 --> 01:39:29,803
But if it had, it would've
robbed me of the chance
1856
01:39:29,887 --> 01:39:32,431
to be a fuller person, you know?
1857
01:39:32,514 --> 01:39:35,434
Uh, success has a way of insulating us.
1858
01:39:36,935 --> 01:39:38,103
I didn't want to do that.
1859
01:39:38,187 --> 01:39:40,647
I wanted to know what
it would be like to direct a film,
1860
01:39:40,731 --> 01:39:42,733
so I directed five or six of them.
1861
01:39:42,816 --> 01:39:45,068
I wanted to know what it
would be like to produce a film,
1862
01:39:45,152 --> 01:39:46,445
and I produced a few.
1863
01:39:46,528 --> 01:39:48,488
I was born with a curiosity
1864
01:39:48,572 --> 01:39:50,675
that got me into an awful lot
of trouble when I was a kid,
1865
01:39:50,699 --> 01:39:52,534
but it certainly stood me in good stead
1866
01:39:52,618 --> 01:39:53,869
when I became an adult.
1867
01:39:54,453 --> 01:39:58,081
Um… I hope, though, that that curiosity
1868
01:39:58,165 --> 01:39:59,583
stays with me all my life.
1869
01:39:59,666 --> 01:40:00,667
[audience applauds]
1870
01:40:00,751 --> 01:40:04,129
[announcer] The recipient of
the 1992 Life Achievement Award,
1871
01:40:04,213 --> 01:40:05,589
Sidney Poitier.
1872
01:40:14,932 --> 01:40:17,976
[Freeman] I always think of Sidney
as this big-ass lighthouse
1873
01:40:18,936 --> 01:40:22,231
sitting on a promontory
somewhere in the dark.
1874
01:40:22,898 --> 01:40:23,899
Bright light.
1875
01:40:24,608 --> 01:40:29,321
I told him that all my formative years.
1876
01:40:30,781 --> 01:40:34,451
I was focusing on that light
that he projected to me.
1877
01:40:35,452 --> 01:40:40,457
[sighs] Had no other beacon
as bright as that,
1878
01:40:40,541 --> 01:40:41,917
as sure as that,
1879
01:40:43,043 --> 01:40:46,505
that I believed in
as strongly as that one.
1880
01:40:47,130 --> 01:40:52,052
Forty-eight years ago, the winter of 1945,
1881
01:40:52,719 --> 01:40:56,181
Sidney Poitier walked into
a small theater in Harlem.
1882
01:40:56,265 --> 01:40:59,309
This was the American Negro Theatre.
1883
01:41:02,813 --> 01:41:05,524
Sidney broke the molds
in so many different ways.
1884
01:41:05,607 --> 01:41:08,735
Sidney brought his A game,
and so we could bring our A game.
1885
01:41:09,653 --> 01:41:11,780
I think he's truly a very fine man.
1886
01:41:11,864 --> 01:41:15,075
He's a great example of what manhood
should look like and feel like.
1887
01:41:15,158 --> 01:41:16,743
He'd done so much in his career.
1888
01:41:16,827 --> 01:41:18,245
He'd been through so much
1889
01:41:18,328 --> 01:41:20,622
to get to that place where he could say,
1890
01:41:20,706 --> 01:41:24,209
"Hey, I've done it all.
I've done everything I could do.
1891
01:41:24,293 --> 01:41:26,837
Now I just wanna look back
and think to myself,
1892
01:41:26,920 --> 01:41:30,090
'I did the right thing,
from a moral standpoint.'"
1893
01:41:30,174 --> 01:41:31,717
And he sure did.
1894
01:41:31,800 --> 01:41:34,261
[Belafonte] We've been friends
for many, many years.
1895
01:41:34,344 --> 01:41:37,055
I've shared more with Sidney
than with any other man.
1896
01:41:37,639 --> 01:41:40,100
And I'm very, very proud
of what he has achieved
1897
01:41:40,184 --> 01:41:42,644
as an artist and a citizen.
1898
01:41:43,395 --> 01:41:47,316
And I'm very, very fortunate
to have you as my friend.
1899
01:41:47,399 --> 01:41:48,609
And I love you.
1900
01:41:49,276 --> 01:41:50,819
[audience applauds]
1901
01:41:54,948 --> 01:41:58,660
[Julia Roberts] The Oscar goes
to Denzel Washington.
1902
01:41:58,744 --> 01:42:00,037
[audience cheering, applauding]
1903
01:42:02,414 --> 01:42:05,584
[Russell Crowe] And the Oscar goes
to Halle Berry in Monster's Ball.
1904
01:42:05,667 --> 01:42:07,586
Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
1905
01:42:07,669 --> 01:42:09,588
[Berry] For me, that night was so huge.
1906
01:42:09,671 --> 01:42:11,006
It was so monumental,
1907
01:42:11,089 --> 01:42:13,217
not just with my win,
but with Denzel winning
1908
01:42:13,300 --> 01:42:15,344
and Sidney having the honorary Oscar.
1909
01:42:15,427 --> 01:42:18,597
I knew that this moment
would inspire so many people.
1910
01:42:18,680 --> 01:42:21,099
From the bottom of my heart,
I thank you all.
1911
01:42:21,934 --> 01:42:24,494
Forty years I've been chasing Sidney,
they finally give it to me.
1912
01:42:24,520 --> 01:42:26,440
What they do?
They give it to him the same night.
1913
01:42:26,480 --> 01:42:28,565
[audience laughs, applauds]
1914
01:42:28,649 --> 01:42:30,108
I remember he stood up.
1915
01:42:31,026 --> 01:42:33,237
And, uh, we were sort of, from a distance,
1916
01:42:33,320 --> 01:42:36,281
I guess it was passing the baton,
I guess you'd say.
1917
01:42:36,365 --> 01:42:38,784
[Washington] I'll always
be following in your footsteps.
1918
01:42:38,867 --> 01:42:41,328
There's nothing I would rather do, sir.
1919
01:42:41,411 --> 01:42:43,956
Nothing I would rather do. God bless you.
1920
01:42:44,540 --> 01:42:48,752
There's just nobody like him.
Never will be again.
1921
01:42:49,920 --> 01:42:53,257
[Barack Obama] It's been said that
Sidney Poitier does not make movies.
1922
01:42:53,340 --> 01:42:56,969
He makes milestones.
Milestones of America's progress.
1923
01:42:57,052 --> 01:42:59,471
Poitier once called his driving purpose
1924
01:42:59,555 --> 01:43:01,306
to make himself a better person.
1925
01:43:02,015 --> 01:43:05,769
He did, and he made us all
a little bit better along the way.
1926
01:43:05,853 --> 01:43:08,856
[audience cheering, applauding]
1927
01:43:11,692 --> 01:43:15,279
He's one of those people
that came to this earth
1928
01:43:16,780 --> 01:43:20,659
to move it, to change it, to shake it,
1929
01:43:21,243 --> 01:43:24,371
to give people what they need
1930
01:43:24,872 --> 01:43:29,710
so they can move forward and
create change in their own lives.
1931
01:43:29,793 --> 01:43:33,964
Sidney Poitier is
an extremely powerful force.
1932
01:43:34,464 --> 01:43:37,843
And the wonderful thing about energy,
1933
01:43:37,926 --> 01:43:41,555
as my grandfather taught me,
you can't kill energy.
1934
01:43:41,638 --> 01:43:43,974
Energy never stops.
1935
01:43:44,057 --> 01:43:48,061
Everything that Sidney
has created is always here,
1936
01:43:48,145 --> 01:43:51,023
and it will always continue to grow.
1937
01:43:51,607 --> 01:43:55,235
And… what a beautiful life.
1938
01:43:56,778 --> 01:43:59,156
[Poitier] Congratulations, Oprah,
from all of us
1939
01:43:59,239 --> 01:44:01,450
for those past 20 years,
1940
01:44:02,117 --> 01:44:05,537
and for the light you've brought
that shines so gently
1941
01:44:05,621 --> 01:44:08,582
on those who need it most.
1942
01:44:09,416 --> 01:44:11,001
[audience cheering, applauding]
1943
01:44:11,835 --> 01:44:13,795
[Oprah] I'm a great part of his legacy,
1944
01:44:13,879 --> 01:44:16,757
and so is every other life
that he touched.
1945
01:44:16,840 --> 01:44:22,137
Every person who felt something
move or open in them
1946
01:44:22,221 --> 01:44:25,349
by watching him in To Sir, with Love,
1947
01:44:25,432 --> 01:44:28,393
or seeing him in
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner,
1948
01:44:28,477 --> 01:44:32,022
or that moment of him
rolling out of the train
1949
01:44:32,606 --> 01:44:35,734
and continuing to stand with Tony Curtis,
1950
01:44:35,817 --> 01:44:39,738
and thinking,
"Huh. A Negro would do that?"
1951
01:44:42,366 --> 01:44:44,243
[smacks lips] That's the summary of him.
1952
01:44:45,077 --> 01:44:47,079
It's every life that he's touched.
1953
01:44:47,829 --> 01:44:49,122
That's all I got.
1954
01:44:50,499 --> 01:44:52,334
[crying]
1955
01:44:54,086 --> 01:44:57,965
[voice cracks] I love him so much.
I just love him so much.
1956
01:44:58,465 --> 01:44:59,800
[normal voice] It's really true.
1957
01:44:59,883 --> 01:45:02,219
My life would not have been
the same without him.
1958
01:45:03,595 --> 01:45:05,055
[Poitier] I have come a long way.
1959
01:45:05,138 --> 01:45:07,808
I really have come a very, very long way.
1960
01:45:07,891 --> 01:45:09,476
And I'm proud of that.
1961
01:45:10,060 --> 01:45:13,647
I am here to be…
1962
01:45:15,190 --> 01:45:18,861
The best husband, the best grandfather,
1963
01:45:18,944 --> 01:45:21,780
the best father,
the best great-grandfather.
1964
01:45:21,864 --> 01:45:27,035
I try to extend to them all that
might be considered good in me.
1965
01:45:27,619 --> 01:45:30,414
I truly, truly try
1966
01:45:30,497 --> 01:45:34,543
to be better tomorrow
1967
01:45:35,335 --> 01:45:36,753
than I was today.
1968
01:45:36,837 --> 01:45:38,255
A better human being.
1969
01:45:38,755 --> 01:45:42,134
Not a better actor,
but just a better human being.
1970
01:45:42,217 --> 01:45:47,222
And when I die,
I will not be afraid of having lived.162589
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