Vim & Vigor - Winter 2009 - (Page 34) over sidney poitier, 82, triumphed over poverty and racial prejudice to become one of the greatest movie actors ever—and then he - overcame prostate cancer lready recognized as one of the most successful actors of all time, Sidney Poitier was still flourishing in his mid-60s: acting, directing and enjoying the attention of his children, grandchildren and an adoring public. But then the biopsy result came back: prostate cancer. Like the unprovoked punch to the face from a white man when he was 14—an early encounter with racism he’ll never forget—the blow was unexpected and devastating. How could this happen? Born the seventh child to a semiliterate tomato farmer in the Bahamas, Poitier began his unlikely rise to stardom after trying an acting class in Harlem at 18. He is not the only tall, handsome, confident and articulate black man to reach the top of his calling. The list unfurls from Frederick Douglass, George Washington Carver and Thurgood Marshall to Muhammad Ali, Tiger Woods, Denzel Washington, Colin Powell and Barack Obama. But he stands as high as any of them in the impact he had in breaking down racial prejudice because of the roles he undertook. In the racially charged 1960s, he burst stereotypes by playing exemplary leading men who exuded dignity. He builds a chapel for no pay in Lilies of the Field, teaches inner-city kids in To Sir, with Love, solves a homicide in a racist Southern town in In the Heat of the Night and confronts the prejudice of PHOTOGRAPH BY GASPER TRINGALE/CPI by bob cooper Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vim & Vigor - Winter 2009 Vim & Vigor - Winter 2009 Contents Opening Thoughts For Your Health Close Call Model Behavior Is It a Sign? Your Heart: The Owners Manual Independence Days The Right Stuff Watch and Learn Up to Speed Pedi-Cures It Ain't Brain Surgery Centering Preganancy Somebody Special From Here to Hanoi Community Ask the Experts Vim & Vigor - Winter 2009 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mcmurry/vimvigor_2014winter-sa http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mcmurry/vimvigor_2014fall-sa http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mcmurry/vimvigor_2014summer-sa http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mcmurry/vimvigor_2014spring-sa http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mcmurry/vimvigor_2013winter-sa http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mcmurry/vimvigor_2013fall-sa http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mcmurry/vimvigor_2013summer-sa http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mcmurry/vimvigor_2013spring-sa http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mcmurry/vimvigor_2012winter-sa http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mcmurry/vimvigor_2012fall-sa http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mcmurry/vimvigor_2012summer-sa http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mcmurry/vimvigor_2012spring-sa http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mcmurry/vimvigor_2010fall-sa http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mcmurry/vimvigor_2010summer-sa http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mcmurry/vimvigor_2010spring-sa http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mcmurry/vimvigor_2009winter-sa http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mcmurry/vimvigor_2009fall-sa http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mcmurry/vimvigor_2009summer-sa http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mcmurry/vimvigor_2009spring-sa http://www.nxtbookMEDIA.com
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