Halle Berry Remembers Sidney Poitier as the "Angel in the Balcony"
Halle Berry recalls Sidney Poitier as a "powerful presence" in her life.
Poitier, the Bahamian-American Hollywood icon who became the first Black man to win an Academy Award for Best Actor, died last Thursday at 94 years old. In a touching essay for Variety, Berry reflected on Poitier's role in her life, from inspiring her onscreen to watching her make her own Oscars history as the first Black woman to receive an Academy Award for Best Actress.
Poitier's role in the 1967 film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner—in which he costars with Katharine Houghton to play an interracial couple with family who disapprove of the relationship—"mesmerized" a young Berry. "For the first time in my childhood, I felt seen. Understood. Validated," wrote the actress, who grew up as the daughter of a white mother and a Black father. "The world already knew Sidney, who died last week at 94, as a formidable performer. But I first experienced him as a mirror."
Beyond being a powerful form of representation in film, Berry said she also "looked to him as a sterling example, as a template of manhood and all that is honorable."
"I was just 4 when my parents separated, when my father's alcoholism upended our family," she continued. "As imperfect as my dad was, as deep of a wedge as his fury drove between us, I loved him, missed him, longed to have him close. In my mind's eye, and in my father's absence, Sidney epitomized what a man should be: unflappable and courageous, eloquent and proud, charming and handsome. He even physically resembled my father."
Berry recalled meeting Poitier in person for the first time on the set of the 1999 film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, a movie about the first Black woman nominated for an Academy Award for a leading performance.
"I'd arranged to interview him, to glean what I could about Sidney's memories of Dorothy, as well as to hear what it was like to be Black in Hollywood during a time when there was little place for us in the industry," Berry wrote. "I greeted Sidney, eyes dancing, cheeks lifted—and then I froze. It is the only time in my life when I have been rendered speechless! I was so overwhelmed by his powerful presence, his regal aura, I could not get my words out. For several minutes, I just sat there and stared at him."
In her essay, Berry also reflected on the moment that she made history at the 2002 Academy Awards ceremony, where Poitier was in attendance to receive an Honorary Award presented by Denzel Washington.
"I thought that would be the highlight of the event," Berry wrote of Poitier's distinction. "I'd been nominated for my role in Monster's Ball, but I truly did not believe I would win." When her name was announced as the winner, the actress recalled being "frozen, my body stuck in that seat, my spirit floating somewhere above me. … In the absence of a written speech, my subconscious came pouring forth, a mix of gratitude and astonishment, a recognition of those who'd paved my way—just as Sidney had."
She remembered seeing Poitier's face in the audience as she concluded her speech. "I looked up and saw dear Sidney, high in the balcony seemingly with a halo surrounding him, looking over me as a proud father would. Our paths had crossed all those years earlier when I, wide-eyed and frizzy-headed, watched him in awe from my living-room sofa. Decades later in that arena, our lives became inextricably connected—he, the first Black man to garner a leading-man Oscar, and I, the first Black woman to accomplish the same in my category," Berry wrote. "I was as tongue-tied in that moment as I was when I'd initially met him, as moved as I still am when I watch his films. History will remember Sidney as a giant of the screen, a legendary actor and director, a performer whose enormous talents were eclipsed only by his kindness. I will recall him as my first mirror, and the true measure of a man—and I will forever see him as the angel in the balcony watching over all of us."
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