AFI Honors Poitier

Sidney Poitier was named the 1992 recipient of the American Film Institute’s prestigious Life Achievement Award on Friday.

Hailed as a pioneer and a trailblazer by AFI Chairman Gene Jankowski, Poitier becomes the 20th individual to be honored for having “advanced the film art in a fundamental way.”

“I’m a fellow seldom in search of words,” said the smiling, trim Poitier during a press conference at the AFI campus in Hollywood, “but they’ve all deserted me. I got a call yesterday from Steven Spielberg. My secretary said, ‘Steven Spielberg would like to speak to you.’ I said, ‘Go back to work,’ but she said, ‘No, it’s really Steven Spielberg.’ ”

After learning of the award from Spielberg, Poitier, always a figure of imposing dignity leavened with a twinkle in his eye, “was afraid they’d made a mistake--but Harry Belafonte is not in town, and Bill Cosby already has all the money he needs.

“My life unfolded in slow motion in my mind. I saw the faces of the individuals who made this moment possible--too many for them to be with me here today. Let a simple thank you suffice.”

Recalling that Poitier was a founding trustee and vice chairman of the AFI board, institute Director Jean Firstenberg remarked that Poitier had “come full circle.”

Poitier was Hollywood’s first major African-American leading man, establishing an enduring stardom in such films as “The Blackboard Jungle,” “The Defiant Ones,” “Lilies of the Field” (which brought him an Oscar), “In the Heat of the Night” and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.” In two weeks he starts shooting “Sneakers” with Robert Redford.

The life achievement award is one of Hollywood’s most prestigious honors. It is presented annually to men and women who have made major contributions to America’s film heritage. Previous winners include John Ford, Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston and Gregory Peck. Poitier will formally receive the award March 12 during a banquet at the Beverly Hilton.

Speaking after the announcement with reporters, the actor/director, who recently portrayed retired Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in the two-part television film “Separate but Equal,” explained that “the values by which I conduct my life I like to have reflected in my roles, or if that is not possible, then in the essence of the work itself.

“An artist has to reflect what is and what can be,” he said. “We make choices from moment to moment, and each of those choices extends you a fraction more as a human being.”