Logan, Joshua
Luce, Clare Booth
Lulu
Lysistrata
Man Is Ten Feet Tall, A
Mandela, Nelson
Mankiewicz, Joseph
Mann, Paul
Margulis, Lynn
Marshall, Thurgood
Marshall, William
Materialism
Mayfield, Julian
McDaniel, Hattie
McNeil, Claudia
McQueen, Butterfly
Merrick, David
Miami, Florida, Poitier in
police car incident
Micheaux, Oscar
Mills, George
Mirisch, Walter
Moore, Juanita
Moreland, Mantan
Morrow, Vic
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus
Mysteries
in Bahamas
God as ultimate
NAACP
Nassau, New Providence Island, Bahamas
Baron Smith and movie incident
class structure
Jumper church
Poitier childhood in
Poitier family moves to
Poitier family poverty in
racism in
Nature
Negro Actors Guild
Nelson, Ralph
New York, New York: Harlem
Sidney Poitier arrives in
theaters
Theresa Hotel
New York Times
No Way Out
One Hundred and Ten in the Shade
Outsider: concept of
daughter, Beverly Poitier, and
Poitier as
racism and
Parenting: discipline
divorce and
materialism and
Poitier and daughters
Poitier’s parents
values, clarity of and
Patch of Blue, A
Philco Playhouse
Piece of the Action, A
Pleasures, hedonism, or instant gratification
Poitier, Beverly (daughter)
Poitier, Caroline (aunt)
Poitier, Cedric (brother)
Poitier, Cyril (brother)
Poitier, David (uncle)
Poitier, Evelyn (mother): bush medicines and
character and personality
clothes-making
discipline of children
life on Cat Island
marriage of
Nassau move
parents “Pa Tim” and “Mama Gina,”
siblings Ya-Ya and Augusta
Sidney’s birth and soothsayer’s prediction
Sidney’s departure for Florida
Sidney’s first film, sees
Sidney’s swimming lesson
stone selling
survival tactic
tomato farming
Poitier, Juanita (first wife)
Poitier, March (grandfather)
Poitier, Pam (daughter)
Poitier, Reginald James “Reggie” (father)
character and personality
death of, and inheritance
discipline of children
economic struggles of
as father and provider
life on Cat Island
marriage
Nassau move
parents
Sidney’s birth
Sidney’s departure for Florida and
Sidney’s first film, sees
Sidney’s return to Bahamas and
Sidney’s swimming lesson
tomato farming
Poitier, Sidney:
ACTING CAREER: agent, acquiring
box office success
childhood ambitions
craft and approach to
directing
dissention with Claudia McNeil
first auditions
first film No Way Out, family at
first theatrical role
focus of drama
income from
janitor job at American Negro Theatre in exchange for acting class
lack of roles for
looking for work
mentors and teachers
one-man show, desire to do
Oscar for Best Actor
pantomime and
personal standards for
power of performance and
preparing for roles
Raisin in the Sun and acting challenges
television drama, A Man Is Ten Feet Tall
on theatrical accidents
troublemaker, branded as
work, importance of
see also FILMS, PLAYS (below)
CHARACTER AND PERSONALITY: anger and
charm
contradictions in
danger, reaction to at Catskills resort
fear of failure
forgiveness and
identity, recognition of
maturing of, New York City
military, problems in and
motto
moving-on lifestyle
as outsider
personal standard of high achievement
principles, adherence to
prostate cancer and introspection
psychoanalysis and
risk-taking
rogue tendencies
role models, heroes, mentors
self-esteem
shaping of
spending habits and care with money
tolerance and
work ethic of
CHILDHOOD: birth and soothsayer’s prediction
Cat Island
chores
clothes
discipline
education
life’s lessons from Cat Island
Miami
Nassau, Bahamas
poverty of
rhythms of early life
swimming “lesson,”
EMPLOYMENT (OTHER THAN ACTING): construction
delivery boy
kitchen help
restaurant (Ribs in the Ruff)
FAMILY: ancestry
brother (Cyril)
daughters
divorce from first wife
father
mother
reunion with parents at age
and guilt toward
sister (Teddy)
wife (first, Juanita)
FILMS: All the Young Men
Blackboard Jungle
Cry, the Beloved Country
The Defiant Ones
Edge of the City
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
In the Heat of the Night
Lilies of the Field
No Way Out
A Patch of Blue
Porgy and Bess
Something of Value
Stir Crazy (director)
Sir, with Love
NEW YORK CITY: arrival in
black culture in
Harlem and
learning about
racial acceptance in
Raisin in the Sun and new kind of theater brought to Broadway
self-improvement embarked upon
“time of ashes” in
winter in
PLAYS: Anna Lucasta
Lysistrata
Raisin in the Sun
POLITICS: contemporaries, influence of
criticism of Poitier’s, by contemporaries
Louise, relationship with
loyalty oaths, refusing to sign
in New York City
social movements, heroes of
RACISM: acting career and removal of barriers
Atlanta restaurant incident
Cat Island and lack of exposure to
charm as survival tactic
Defiant Ones, message of, and
discussions with Louise and
escape from Southern Jim Crowism
first exposure to, Nassau
in Hollywood
livelihood, maintaining and
i
n Miami
outsider status and
reaction, internal, to
social conscience of filmmakers and
social violence and
theater and
voting rights
Whipper, Leigh, and
RESIDENCES: Bahamas 1970s
Beverly Hills
Cat Island
Harlem
Miami
Mt. Vernon, NY
Nassau
Pleasantville, NY
Riverside Drive, NY
SPIRITUALITY AND BELIEFS: discussion with Charley Blackwell
educability of human beings
evolution of
false
fate, luck, mysteries
Gaia (Mother Earth) and
grand consciousness or divine force
interconnectedness of life
Nature and
knowing, innate
organized religion and
sensitivity panel (inherited talents and tendencies)
VALUES: Acapulco brush with death and taking stock
acting roles rejected or accepted and
conveyed through acting
environment and
father’s teaching, “true measure of a man,”
forgiveness
integrity
legacy through family
reaching beyond human frailties
Poitier, Sydney (daughter)
Poitier, Teddy (sister)
Porgy and Bess
Poverty: American
on Cat Island
in Nassau, Bahamas
Poitier family, economic struggles of
syndrome
Powell, Adam Clayton, Jr.
Power versus powerless
Promises, Promises
Racism: acting, lack of roles for black actors, 1950s
acting, stereotyped roles
black artists traveling and
black schools
Cat Island, lack of
charm, as survival tactic
Defiant Ones, message of, and
dreams and bonding
genocide
in Hollywood
institutionalized
Nassau, class structure
Nassau, Poitier’s first exposure to
Miami, Poitier’s confrontation with in
parental lectures and
Patch of Blue and
politics and cultural conflict, 1950s
reaction to Hilda Simms in television play
segregation in Atlanta restaurant
self-esteem and
self-image and
social conscience of filmmakers and
student activism and
wariness and
Whipper, Leigh, and
Raisin in the Sun
Randolph, A. Philip
Richards, Lloyd
Risk: childhood on Cat Island and
childhood in Nassau and
learning about
stretching one’s abilities and
Robeson, Paul
Rolle, Yorick
Rose, Doris
Rose, Philip
Sagan, Carl
Sands, Diana
Sense memory
Sensitivity panel (inherited talents and tendencies)
Silvera, Frank
Simms, Hilda
Simplicity, virtue of
on Cat Island
See also Materialism
Smith, Anna DeVere
Smith, Will
Snipes, Wesley
Society, contemporary: courageous commitment, supporting
cultural messages to children
effect on children’s minds
material prosperity of
oppression in
progress in
Smith, Baron
Spirituality: evolution of Poitier’s
faith
false beliefs
fate, unseen forces, or mysteries
Gaia (Mother Earth) and
God
hope and
interconnectedness of life
knowing, innate
Nature and
science and
sensitivity panel (inherited talents and tendencies)
speaking in tongues
Staples, Brent
Steiger, Rod
Stir Crazy
Susskind, David
Sutton, Jojo
Tap Dance Kid
Terkel, Studs
Theresa Hotel, New York
“Time of ashes,”
To Sir, with Love
Tracy, Spencer
United Artists
Values; beyond materialism
environment and
father’s teaching, “true measure of a man,”
honoring parents’
Mandela and
Poitier, loyalty oaths, refusing to sign
Poitier’s primary
Poitier’s work ethic
reaching beyond human frailties
relativity of
work as means to convey
Vietnam War
Walker, Bill
Wallace, George
Washington, Denzel
Waters, Ethel
Whipper, Leigh
White, Walter
“Why Do White Folks Love Sidney Poitier So?,”
Wilkins, Roy
Winters, Shelley
Wright, Richard
Young, Whitney
Zanuck, Darryl
About the Author
SIDNEY POITIER was the first—and remains the only—black actor to win the Academy Award for best actor for his outstanding performance in Lilies of the Field in 1963. His landmark films include The Defiant Ones, A Patch of Blue, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and To Sir, With Love. Among his many accolades, he has recently been selected as the thirty-sixth recipient of the Screen Actors Guild’s highest honor, the Life Achievement Award for an outstanding career and humanitarian accomplishment.
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Copyright
THE MEASURE OF A MAN. Copyright © 2000 by Sidney Poitier. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
ePub edition January 2007 ISBN 9780061747489
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About the Publisher
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