but by his own strict guidelines for the kinds
of parts he would or would not play. As he
had developed a powerful sense of himself,
so did he with his acting persona. His roles
would be marked by their
honesty and integrity, truly
reflecting the values of the
man, and vice versa.
“We define our own
lives and we become what
we believe,” he says. “My
work is me. What I wanted
were the kind of roles that
made me feel worthwhile,
and that had something
good to say about life.” As a
result, even as a fledgling
actor supporting a wife and
family, Poitier turned down
a number of potentially lucrative roles.
an actor, Poitier turned his skills to directing
a number of successful films, returning to
film acting in the ’80s and ’90s. In 1997,
Poitier entered the world stage and fulfilled
the final aspect of the sooth-
sayer’s prediction when he
was appointed ambassador
to Japan for the Bahamas.
His memoir, naturally
enough, is marked by the
same questioning and philo-
sophical nature he displays
in person. Looking back on
the past seven decades,
Poitier does not pontificate
with the self-righteous wis-
dom that his age might jus-
tify, but asks more questions
than he answers.
PHOTO: COURTESY MGM/UA
The Defiant Ones (1958)
“My work is me.
What I wanted were
the kind of roles
that made me feel
worth while, andthat
had something good
tosay about life.”
PHOTO: COURTESY COLUMBIA TRI-STAR
A Raisin in the Sun(1961)
What could have been career-killing decisions, however, instead won him the respect
of Marty Baum, one of the biggest agents in
Hollywood, who decided that Poitier was just
the kind of man he wanted to represent.
“Why have I survived, even prospered?”
he writes. “Is it all purely random and meaningless, or is there something more to be
revealed? I wanted to find out, as I looked
back at a long and complicated life, how well
I’ve done at measuring up to the values I
espouse, the standards I have set.”
PHOTO: COURTESY MGM
Poitier made his Hollywood debut in
1950 in No Way Out. It was the first of many
parts that would push the racial envelope,
mirroring the growing civil rights movement, and attract a coterie of new movie
directors eager to explore these themes.
Once again, he found himself in the right
place, at very much the right time.
Lilies of the Field (1963)
This is not to suggest that he is ambivalent about the nature of all things. In regard to
the lessons of his own life, there is a marked
decisiveness in what he feels he has learned
from his experiences on Cat Island and from
his parents, and how that has determined the
course of his life and career.
Poitier has made a career out of playing
characters who may have been flawed, but
were, at their core, men who were marked
by their integrity and strength of character.
“It was a kind of serendipity that when
they [film directors such as Stanley Kramer]
were ready, so was I,” he says.
In the strong leading roles that followed,
Poitier embarked on a streak of cinematic
firsts. He was the first black actor to be nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award in
1958 for The Defiant Ones, and the first to
win the Best Actor Award, for Lilies of the
Field in 1963. In 1968 Poitier became the
first black No. 1 box-office star with his role
in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.
“You can’t be passing on to your kids a
strong foundation if you don’t have one
yourself,” he says. “You can’t be parenting
well if your values aren’t clear to you in
terms of your own life. My parents had that.”
He also credits the lack of amenities or,
as he calls them, “distractions” of such
things as electricity, running water and
indoor plumbing on Cat Island, with allowing his sense of wonder at life to flourish
and grow naturally as a child.
It might be cliché, the old codger looking
back at the hardships of life—“When I was
young, we had to walk six miles in the snow,”
etc.—but Poitier tempers it with humor and
common sense.
“I hope that doesn’t put me in the category of old duffers,” he says. “I’m not saying,
‘This is what I did, so you should too.’”
However, Poitier is also the first to dismiss the singular attention to the racial
aspect of his movie career. What he is most
proud of is that his characters transcended
the issue of race and became more about
being the best person, the best human being,
the best role model, the best example possible. “People aren’t about being black or
white,” Poitier writes in his memoir, The
Measure of a Man. “Black and white in the
face of real issues are mere cosmetics.”
“In an odd way, by having very little, I had
it very good. I had a sense of pulling my own
weight, of contributing to the family in some
way. I learned responsibility and discipline
through meaningful work. The values developed within a family that operates on those
principles then extend to the society at large.
But, he says, “We do learn through challenge, and we can grow from adversity. What’s
basic and fundamental in me has remained the
same. The same guiding principles are there.”
“Children now are bombarded with input
from the moment they are born,” he continues. By being indulged and protected from
reality by overflowing abundance, children
have a hard time seeing clearly the bonds that
connect them to others.
And he credits those guiding principles
with helping him to tap into the blessings he
has received throughout his life. “Yes, my life
has been filled with marvelous opportunities.
But you can’t depend on serendipity. You
don’t wait for it to happen. You open yourself
to the possibility by working at it and preparing yourself as best as you can.” C
