— The Jewish Chronicle (@JewishChron)
January 10, 2022
He said: “I had a newspaper and he walked over to me, and he said, ‘What’s new in the paper?’ And I looked up at him and I said to him, ‘I can’t tell you what’s in the paper, because I can’t read very well.’ He said, ‘Let me ask you something, would you like me to read with you?’ I said to him, ‘Yes, if you like.’”
“Every night, when the restaurant was closed, he sat there with me week after week after week, I learnt a lot”
The legendary Bahamian actor then explained how a theatre company that had previously rejected him, the American Negro Theatre in Harlem for not being able to read scripts then offered him a job, that lead to his first big break in show business.
It was after his initial rejection from the American Negro Theatre, that he took a job at a New York restaurant and subsequently learned how to read.
After his successful apprenticeship, Poitier then went on to play a series of iconic roles including Mr. Tibbs as well as directing a number of features as well as writing a Science-fcition novel called Montaro Caine in 2013, which featured a Jewish protagonist.
Mr. Poitier is survived by his widow and partner of 46 years, Joanna Shimkus, a Canadian actress who was born to a Lithuanian Jewish father and Catholic in Nova Scotia.
Despite being born in the US, Poitier was a Bahamian citizen and therefore eligible for the knighthood bestowed upon him by Queen Elizabeth in 1974.
