Sidney Poitier changed movies, and changed lives

By HILLEL ITALIE
AP National Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Sidney Poitier made history — on the screen and off. He opened up possibilities for generations of Black actors and for generations of Black audiences. Associated Press National Writer Hillel Italie writes in an appreciation that Poitier had as much impact as any performer and reflected a time of growing optimism in American culture. Italie writes that Poitier was the rare actor who really did change lives, who embodied possibilities once absent from the movies. As segregation laws were challenged and fell, Poitier was the performer to whom a cautious Hollywood turned for stories of progress, a bridge to the growing candor and variety of Black filmmaking today. Poitier died Thursday at 94.