Through the years, I always admired this black actor. There was no rational reason... there's a song that I loved... some movies that I connected with.
I decided to do some research. Whoa! I'm so glad that I remained connected all of these decades.
Takes me back, moves me forward.
To Sir, with Love
“To Sir, with Love” is a British film starring Sidney Poitier that deals with social and racial issues in an inner city school. James Clavell both directed and wrote the film's screenplay, based on the semi-autobiographical novel of the same name. The film's title song "To Sir, with Love", sung by Lulu, reached number one on the pop charts, and ultimately was "Billboard Magazine's” #1 pop single in 1967. The movie ranked number 27 on "Entertainment Weekly's" list of the 50 Best High School Movies. The film is in a now well-established genre in which an idealistic teacher is confronted with a class of cynical teenagers, disengaged from conventional schooling. The first such film was "Blackboard Jungle" in 1955 -- in which, incidentally, Poitier played a disruptive pupil. “To Sir, with Love” sets Poitier, a black teacher, in a predominantly white London school. The film touches on racial issues but concentrates on the usual tropes of teenage angst and inspirational leadership. Given the neighborhood depicted and the issues involved, the film might have been much more violent, and the students' language much more obscene. Street life in the East End at the time was often quite brutal, and it's likely the students' home lives were also occasionally violent. The language and situations were considerably sanitized for audiences of 1967. Throughout the movie, Thackeray (Poitier’s character) remains quite dignified. He seems more determined to overcome prejudice than to express bitterness about it. Perhaps this is presented as a tie-in with the students, who face similar social prejudice because of their backgrounds and upbringing. The film was well received when released. The film had grossed $19.1 million in the box office domestically on a $640,000 budget.
The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography, © 2000, is an autobiographical work by Sidney Poitier. On January 26, 2007, Oprah Winfrey chose it for her book of the month.
I have no wish to play the pontificating fool, pretending that I've suddenly come up with the answers to all life's questions. Quite that contrary, I began this book as an exploration, an exercise in self-questing. In other words, I wanted to find out, as I looked back at a long and complicated life, with many twists and turns, how well I've done at measuring up to the values I myself have set.
In this memoir, Sidney Poitier looks back on his celebrated life and career. He explores elements of character and personal values to take his own measure as a man, as a husband and a father, and as an actor.
Poitier credits his parents and his childhood on tiny Cat Island for equipping him with the unflinching sense of right and wrong and of self-worth that he has never surrendered and that dramatically shaped his world. "In the kind of place where I grew up," recalls Poitier, "what's coming at you is the sound of the sea and the smell of the wind and momma's voice and the voice of your dad and the craziness of your brothers and sisters...and that's it." Without television, radio, and material distractions to obscure what matters most, he could enjoy the simple things, endure the long commitments, and find true meaning in his life.
Uncompromising as he pursued a personal and public life, Poitier aimed to honor his upbringing and the invaluable legacy of his parents. Just a few years after his introduction to indoor plumbing and the automobile, Poitier broke racial barrier after racial barrier to launch a pioneering acting career. Committed to the notion that what one does for a living shows who one is, Poitier chose to play forceful and affecting characters who said something positive, useful, and lasting about the human condition. Poitier explores the nature of sacrifice and commitment, price and humility, rage and forgiveness, and paying the price for artistic integrity. What emerges is a picture of a man in the face of limits; his own as well as the world's.
Source: Wikipedia