A documentary about Sidney Poitier is in the works at Apple with Oprah Winfrey serving as executive producer. The documentary is an Apple Original Films release from Winfrey’s Harpo Productions and Network Entertainment.
Poitier, who died last Thursday at age 94 in Beverly Hills, was the first Black man to win an Academy Award for best actor for 1963’s Lilies of the Field and opened the door for other minority performers through his work in such films as In the Heat of the Night, To Sir With Love and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?.
The documentary has been under wraps and in production with the participation of the Poitier family for more than a year, according to sources. Filmmaker Reggie Hudlin is signed on to direct the upcoming feature. Hudlin directed The Black Godfather, the 2019 documentary about music executive Clarence Avant for Netflix, and Marshall, the 2017 Thurgood Marshall biopic starring Chadwick Boseman for Open Road.
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