…still smiling the incandescent smile that started his career five decades ago. His eating habits, however, constitute more than a diet. They flow from an iron-willed self-control that covers his every waking moment, allowing him to present himself as the cool and elegant gentleman, even through periods of enormous personal strain.
There was a period of rejection in the 1960’s where even his core black audience talked about him for taking and portraying what they thought of as “too pure” and dainty. But when Poitier speaks of it today, he still holds no hard feelings: ”I didn’t feel victimized by any of it. So what those people say, they have to speak for themselves. They don’t have to speak for me, ’cause I’ve been speaking for myself. And I’ve learned that everything changes if you live long enough.”
And he’s right. Now Poitier has gone from outcast to hero once more. Over the last several years, critics continue to beat down his door with awards and accolades.
