Apple TV+ has released the first teaser for Sidney, an upcoming documentary based on the life of Sidney Poitier, who died earlier this year at age 94. One of the most acclaimed movie stars during Hollywood’s Golden Era, Poitier was the first Black man to receive an Oscar award for best actor in 1963 (Lilies of the Field), an accomplished director and an activist for the Civil Rights Movement. The documentary is produced by Oprah Winfrey and directed by Reginald Hudlin and features commentary from such notables as Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Robert Redford, Lenny Kravitz, Barbra Streisand, Spike Lee, and many more. The trailer opens with an interview with the renowned actor who described his childhood growing up in the Bahamas, not knowing what electricity was or how it could be possible for water to run through pipes, bringing it directly into a house.
Sidney Poitier Was a Trailblazer Whose Life Continues to Influence Others
Although Poitier was born in Miami, Florida, unexpectedly, the Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner star spent his formative years in a Black community in the Bahamas and had never thought about race conflicts until going to the United States. Poitier moved to Miami at age 15, then to New York City when he was 16, where he joined the American Negro Theatre. The actor landed his breakthrough film role as a high school student in the 1955 film Blackboard Jungle. In 1958, Poitier starred alongside Tony Curtis as chained-together escaped convicts in The Defiant Ones, which received nine Academy Award nominations; and earned both legendary actors nominations for Best Actor. It would be 1963’s Lilies of the Field, where Poitier played a handyman helping a group of German-speaking nuns build a chapel that would win him the coveted trophy.
As he built his illustrious career in Hollywood, Poitier never took a role that would put Black people in a subservient position. In fact, Poitier became known for playing strong Black characters in theaters and working on successful films dealing with race issues, such as To Sir, with Love, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and In the Heat of the Night.
With his newfound platform, the actor fought for the inclusion of more Black people in front and behind the cameras during a time when racial segregation was still legal in the United States. A champion in film and on stage, Broadway paid tribute to its late star when its theaters dimmed their lights on January 19, 2022, at 7:45 pm ET following Poitier’s death.
Sidney will premiere in select theaters and globally on Apple TV+ on September 23, 2022.