Measure of a Man: Sidney Poitier Author (Oprah’s Book Club)

In Measure of A Man, Sidney Poitier candidly shares stories of his life before he found success in movie acting, directing, and writing.

Sidney Poitier was the first black actor to win an Academy Award for best actor for his outstanding performance in Lilies of the Field in 1963. His landmark roles in films include The Defiant Ones, A Patch of Blue, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and To Sir, With Love. He has starred in over forty films, directed nine, and even penned four. He is the author of two autobiographies including this. Poitier has also been awarded the Screen Actors Guild’s highest honor, the Life Achievement Award, for an outstanding career and humanitarian accomplishment. He is married, has six daughters, four grandchildren, and one great-granddaughter.

Sidney Poitier tells of his life in splendid candor and reflects on life in such a spiritual sense filled with passion and intellect that has been his inspiration. Poitier speaks of his poverty-stricken childhood of poverty on idyllic Cat Island in the Bahamas and attributes it for preparing him with a sense of self-worth, family values, and simple ethics that he has held tight to his whole life.

Poitier broke many barriers by portraying important, dignified characters in some of the most morally significant films of our time. He cites his personal journey is what propelled him. He explores with the reader such themes as sacrifice and commitment, pride and humility, rage and survival, and paying the price for artistic integrity. His writing is nothing short of magnificence and is engaging and down to earth. He also shares his provocative thoughts on racism in Hollywood, the media, raising children, and how we are all a part of “the grand scheme”. This auto biography attests to the rewards of being true to one’s self while living passionately in your beliefs.