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They call me, Mr. Tibbs! RIP Sidney Poitier

mdmost

By mdmost
in Movies and TV

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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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Damn 2022, let us have a day please.  RIP, Sidney.

Obviously his pivotal roles in the 50's & 60's establish him as one of the best, not to mention a groundbreaker in the Arts and Civil Rights.  

He's still brilliant in his roles but is in some rather mediocre movies in the 70's and steps back from it all for ten years in his prime acting years.  That was bold.  He did some directing but was burned out on the same types of roles.  And then he enjoys an incredible third act to his career with Shoot to Kill, Little Nikita, Sneakers, the Jackal, and many others.  A serious and gifted artist in a business just filled with good looking people talking.  Even wrote multiple books.  

Just read that later in life served on the Board of Directors of Disney and was the Ambassador to Japan from the Bahamas.  

What a wonderful run.  Sleep well sir. 

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henrygandorf

henrygandorf 29192

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afi did a thing for a few years with target at arclight where they would show ~10 movies all at the same time, all with a big star introducing them and saying a few words.  so if you timed it right and got on the site to buy tickets, you had to know in advance which one you wanted to see, and the decisions were always tough.  the first year i bought tickets to see dustin hoffman introducing tootsie, then had to leave town for work and gave the tickets to @Ramsalot.

in 2013, i got tickets to in the heat of the night with poitier introducing.  it happened to be in the cinerama dome, and he was awesome.  86 years old.  spoke for 5-10 minutes, then basically said he would love to stay and watch the movie with us, but his wife told him he needed to come home for dinner.  then he slowly walked off.  rip to a fucking legend.

and i found an article about the screening.

Quote

Sidney Poitier still delivers ‘Heat’

Actor Sidney Poitier introduces “In the Heat of the Night” at AFI Night at the Movies in Hollywood.

(Tomasso Boddi / Getty Images)

BY LEE MARGULIES

APRIL 25, 2013 12 AM PT

His walk is slow, his speech is measured, but at 86, Sidney Poitier is still a commanding presence.

The Academy Award-winning actor and a founding board member of the American Film Institute in 1967 was on hand for AFI Night at the Movies at the ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood on Wednesday to introduce “In the Heat of the Night,” the 1967 best picture winner in which he starred with Rod Steiger.

Introducing films in other theaters for the AFI fund-raiser were Harrison Ford (“Blade Runner”), Cher (“Moonstruck”), Samuel L. Jackson (“Pulp Fiction”), Shirley MacLaine (“Terms of Endearment”), Kathy Bates (“Misery”), Sally Field (“Norma Rae”), Peter Fonda (“Easy Rider”), Demi Moore (“Ghost”), Mike Myers (“Shrek”), Kurt Russell (“The Thing”) and Kevin Spacey (“The Usual Suspects”).

The audience in the Cinerama Dome was kept waiting nearly an hour for Poitier’s appearance, but no one seemed to mind much. The near-capacity crowd was on its feet applauding as soon as he made his way to the podium after an introduction by AFI President Bob Gazzale.

Poitier, at one time the nation’s top box-office star, was humble and gracious, expressing gratitude to the many great actors, directors and writers with whom he’d worked during a career that included such films as “Lillies of the Field,” “To Sir, With Love,” “A Raisin in the Sun,” “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” and “For Love of Ivy.” Among those he singled out for praise were filmmakers Richard Brooks and Stanley Kramer, who cast him, respectively, in “Blackboard Jungle” (1955) and “The Defiant Ones” (1958). “They stood their ground and left behind a legacy of values that continue to enrich the American film industry,” he said.

Poitier has retired from acting and now focuses his attention on writing books.

His only reference to “In the Heat of the Night,” in which he played a big-city detective trying to solve a murder in a small Mississippi town where racism is still rampant, came when he told the crowd, referencing the film’s most famous line: “I promise you tonight a story well told, as sure as my name is Mr. Tibbs.”

He didn’t stay to watch it, though. “My daughter tells me I gotta go home because my wife is holding dinner for me,” he said.

i was looking for a group photo from 2013, but i found 2011 (i think) instead.

Denzel Washington, Michael B. Jordan - Denzel Washington Photos - Zimbio

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Hate 20113

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Damn, 2022 showing no mercy.  He's another person that I just loved to listen to speak (Carl Sagan is another).  I always loved his annunciations and he just sounded like pure class.  RIP to another all time great. 

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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89730

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5 hours ago, mdmost said:

So many great roles. He was the bomb in Sneakers, yo. 

4 hours ago, Beantown Express 2.0 said:

RIP to one of the best at his craft.

Loved the movie Sneakers and seem to always watch it when it is on TV for some reason.  

Saw Sneakers in the theater, and have caught it a lot over the years.

For a computer movie from the early 90s, it has aged extremely well.  I will find myself watching it when coming across it on TV as well, and I can't explain why.  Not a lot of movies like that.

 

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mr. sunshine

mr. sunshine 2827

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Introducing films in other theaters for the AFI fund-raiser were Harrison Ford (“Blade Runner”), Cher (“Moonstruck”), Samuel L. Jackson (“Pulp Fiction”), Shirley MacLaine (“Terms of Endearment”), Kathy Bates (“Misery”), Sally Field (“Norma Rae”), Peter Fonda (“Easy Rider”), Demi Moore (“Ghost”), Mike Myers (“Shrek”), Kurt Russell (“The Thing”) and Kevin Spacey (“The Usual Suspects”).

That would be a very nice line up today unless you’re dead or Kevin Spacey 

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