Just a week after the world was forced to say goodbye to Betty White, and a day after Peter Dogdanovich's passing, screen legend Sidney Poitier died on Friday at age 94. He was Hollywood's first Black movie star and the first Black man to win a best actor Oscar. Poitier was of course more than an actor, he was a director and activist who helped pave the way for other African-Americans in Hollywood and beyond.
Poitier, who was born in the Bahamas, was granted an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth, received a Kennedy Center Honor and was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian honor. Soon after the news broke of Poiter's death, it was the reaction on Twitter that truly highlighted the impact that he had made on the world, as many paid their respects and shared their favorite memories of the man.
"This beautiful, brilliant, talented Black man. Rest in Peace and Power #SidneyPoitier," wrote Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sifill_LDF), president and director-counsel for the NAACP's Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
"Sidney Poitier. Poor People's Campaign, Resurrection City, Washington, D.C., May 1968. Powerful beyond the stage and screen," tweeted Bernice King (@BerniceKing), CEO of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change.
SirusXM host Clay Cane (@claycane) offered his respects, "The legendary Sidney Poitier has reportedly passed away at 94. A true icon. Here is a powerful interview from him back in 1968 - he was addressing how he was being treated by the press. Rest in power."
The official account of Time Out Film (@TimeOutFilm) was among countless media outlets to praise Poitier's lengthy career, "RIP Sidney Poitier. The first Black male actor to win an Oscar, he was a giant of an actor and a giant of a human being. From ‘Blackboard Jungle’ to ‘In the Heat of the Night’, he was never less than magnetic onscreen."
The Huffington Post's Philip Lewis (@Phil_Lewis) shared video from Poitier's 1964 Oscars acceptance speech:
"Ah man, Sidney Poitier. In The Heat of the Night was one of the first 'grown up' films I was allowed to watch when I was little. Mr Poitier, I hope you up there slapping angels in heaven," wrote theater and film director Nadia Latif (@HerrDirector).
Film critic Tim Robey (@trim_obey), tweeted, "It sounds like the incomparable Sidney Poitier has died. (A day after Peter Bogdanovich, too.) What an onslaught"
Actor Jeffrey Wright (@jfreewright) wrote simply, "Sidney Poitier. What a landmark actor. One of a kind. What a beautiful, gracious, warm, genuinely regal man. RIP, Sir. With love."
We should all be so lucky to earn such praise and adulation.
