Oprah Winfrey says The late Sidney Poitier forever changed the conception of a Black man

• Oprah Winfrey and Reginald Hudlin told Reuters that the late Sidney Poitier permanently transformed the perception of what a Black man might be on a global scale.
• Oprah Winfrey and Reginald Hudlin’s documentary, “Sidney,” celebrates the life of Sidney Poitier
•  Winfrey remembers how her favorite film, “Lilies of the Field” inspired her career.

Oprah Winfrey and Reginald Hudlin told Reuters ahead of the world premiere of “Sidney” that the late Sidney Poitier permanently transformed the perception of what a Black man might be on a global scale.

The Apple TV+ documentary, directed by Hudlin and produced by Winfrey, commemorates the life of Poitier, who “redefined what people thought a Black person might be and who Black people were in the world,” according to Winfrey in an interview

“For many people that was their first relationship with a Black person,” she said of seeing Poitier on the big screen. “White people did not know Black people other than as maids or servants.”

For a Black guy in the 1960s, rising to the top of Hollywood was a difficult task. Poitier’s representations of a doctor, a lawyer, and a detective shattered stereotypes.

Poitier’s character, Virgil Tibbs, is questioned as a detective in the 1967 film “In the Heat of the Night” by a white police chief in the United States South, who asks him disrespectfully what they call him back in Philadelphia. Standing up for himself, Poitier famously and vehemently says, “They call me Mr. Tibbs.”

“It was important for him as an artist, and as a Black artist, to only perform roles that were representative of what he believed was the integrity of himself and represented the integrity of his family,” Winfrey said.

Narrated by Poitier, the film paints the picture of a family man with tremendous self respect, emphasized by how his strong upbringing made him the man he was.

“No matter who you are, this movie will speak to an important part of you, and it gives you the opportunity to elevate yourself by following Sidney Poitier’s example,” said Hudlin.

Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Robert Redford, Lenny Kravitz, Barbra Streisand, Spike Lee, and Harry Belafonte all relate anecdotes on how Poitier lifted the bar in the film industry.

Winfrey remembers seeing Poitier become the first Black man to win the best actor Oscar for “Lilies of the Field” in 1964, and how it gave her hope for what was achievable in her own life.

“I remember thinking ‘if he could do that, I wonder what I can do.'”Reuters

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