One person whose life was deeply touched by the Bahamian-American star was fellow actorDenzel Washington.
Poitier had just won an Honorary Award at the ceremony, perPeople.
But you couldn’t cut Sidney Poitier out of a Sidney Poitier picture" (viaUSA Today).
At that time, fans were delighted to see Poitier belly laughing from his seat.
“I’ll always be chasing you Sidney,” Washington continued as Poitier stood to honor him.
“I’ll always be following in your footsteps.
There is nothing I would rather do, sir,” the actor concluded.
“And he told me, ‘I’m not going to tell you what to do.
In 2008, he said about the 2002 Oscar awarded to his friend, “It represented progress.
It represented dimensionalizing of the film industry.
I paid then, and I pay now a great respect to Denzel Washington.
He has been a quintessential element in the finest of all American actors.”
