The first blacks to win Oscars for best actor, Sidney Poitier (1964), and best actress, Halle Berry (2002), grace a cover of The Hollywood Reporter’s 80th Anniversary “Legends Issue”, hitting newsstands nationwide on Friday. Check out a snippet below.
One thing Sidney Poitier didn’t have in his leading-man heyday? Paparazzi. But on this December morning, Halle Berry, being Halle Berry, arrives at Poitier’s Beverly Hills home with her 2-year-old daughter Nahla — and four lensmen on her heels.
As they exit the car, Nahla sees the men and begins crying; the audience Berry wanted for her daughter with Poitier doesn’t happen, as Nahla is whisked away by a nanny.
“Sidney is part of our history,” says a disappointed Berry, who otherwise seems unfazed. “He’s a legend, and one day I knew she would thank me for allowing her to be in his presence.”
And what a mark he has made. It was a watershed moment in Hollywood when Poitier won the best actor Oscar for Lilies of the Field in 1963, becoming the first African American performer to do so. His victory, preceded by an Oscar nomination five years earlier for The Defiant Ones (1958), happened before Berry even was born. As a child, though, Berry eventually saw Lillies. “Wow. I was, even as a girl, madly in love,” she says. (To which Poitier jokes, “Now you tell me!”)
I love the cover story and all, but Halle’s body language is a bit interesting.
Fukk Sidney – he is supposed to be a pioneer because he’s the first black actor to win an Oscar, but he has a white fukking wife. How nice.
WOW!! So you feel he’s not a pioneer because his wife is white? GROW UP PLEASE!! Love is love and you can’t control who you fall in love with.
@ Diva4Real you probably a white woman…I AGREE with SASAMINA…That shit hurt when I found that out about Potier…
Um, actually you can help who you fall in love with. But aside from that, I could care less who he’s married to, he’s a great actor.
Your such a dumbass! Go join the fox news crew…
they all lose clout when they’re boning white girls. sell out.
halle too.
There’s nothing worng with having a white wife,”some” of them are better than, black,loud,cocky,overly Bold black women.by the way,not all black women are like that,I’m talkng about those that are.
Wow, you all really have an issue with black and white in America ? Sad, sad black people. (says a light coloured black women WITH to black parents; oops sorry, some of my ancestors are white! Thanks to some slaveholders and jews) I’m married to a white guy. My sister married a very black man. BIG DEAL! We all get allong just fine and NO i’m not living in America (thank god if i hear all this crap)
Loser….
Ooooh, my please stop lashing out with bad cursing words, you really need to tone it down, At this point this man is living his life and God is still good to him, god is good to all of us if you can notice that. Love has no color remember the tongue is powerful when speaking negative things about someone remember what goes around comes around, you might end up with a white woman one day and your going to love her to death & you are going to eat them words you said bad about Sidney. So please don’t say bad things about other people, maybe you need some prayer I will do that for you..
very tasteful cover
I agree 100%
Yes I agree! That IS what this post is all about… smh lol
Coolness
I absolutely love the cover, Halle looks like the little girl who is in the presence of her crush
… I feel you Halle, when I see Mr. Poitier in those classic films I go to pieces 2 
I so Agree with you…
this is a great cover!!! like really #DOPE the legends issue #EPIC
Classic—I Love It. Its a great picture….They should have one with Denzel Washington & Cicely Tyson also
I so Agree that would be a cool cover…
I love this cover! Great photo. I just saw Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner a few days ago. It was amazing. Thanks Concreteloop, because now I know which movies I need to check NetFlix for next! lol
Sorry – Halle is not the first Black woman to win the Acedemy Aware. Hattie McDaniel commemorative stamp highlights the achievements of this legendary performer who won the Oscar for her role as Mammy in the award-winning 1939 film Gone With the Wind.
Halle is a beautiful woman, but give the credit to Ms. McDaniels. Honor our elders.
Hattie McDaniel is the first to win an Oscar yes but they are talking about Best Actor when they are talking about Sidney & Halle. Hattie just won an academy award for her supporting role. Best actor is a big deal. Its the highest honor if I’m not mistaken and Halle & Sidney were the first African Americans to receive the award.
Isn’t she the first mixed race actress to win? Just saying….
Mixed race is black.
The End
No it aint lol…
it is depending on which part of the country you are… some people would still see Halle as black
in america, you are what you look like. she black. definitely the end. lol
Replying to “what the hell”, Sir Sidney and Halle are the first Best Actor and Actress. Hattie McDaniel won Best Supporting Actress.
Great picture. He is a living legend. He is not only an amazing actor but great writer too. I enjoy reading his books.
This is one guy in Hollywood I would love to have a conversation with. Halle is looking beautiful as always. Great cover!
Great cover, Halle and Mr. Portier are two excellent actors who have made respectable contributions to the arts and Sidney def. has earned every letter that it takes to form the word Legend.
It truly is sad though and leaves a sour taste in my mouth when I think of how many blacks inbetween 64 and 02 also deserved an oscar and did not recieve it just bescause of their color. These two made it through the door, but their are so many others who never get acknowledged at all. I’m not saying this to discredit or take away any of Halle’s of Sidney’s accomplishments or respect, I just get so angry when I see the space and gap in time from 64, cause I know good and dorn well in that space so many blacks and all people of color have been denied ( i.e. cast of color puple ) simply because they werent lillies.
Just my thoughts as a black women who dont give a damn what they think, I speak on it cause its real and it exists still to this day.
Love the cover! I wish they made room for jennifer hudson< just sayin.
That would be for another time, this was for the old school which still have it going on..I love jennifer yes she deserve to share the cover too, But the cover is making a point..Sorry, But I love you too..
two people who acts the same in every movie they do, and halle is a female uncle tom, who has no talent, wake up black people.
You need prayer too, what’s up with the “Uncle Tom” version; Sorry to say Halle may not have no talent to you, But it’s her acting/actress ability got her to were she is today, so don’t judge Halle,hard work pays off and it’s not a easy job, of course you can sit back and judge but what the hell are you doing with your life, God is good all the time and he still loves no acting Halle Berry so you say, Halle can throw curves around you. And still laughing all the way to the Bank. This sister is awake and loving life, what about you..
Love the pic… and the boots
I so Agree Okay Girl, I’m digging the booths too..Hot, Hot…
I love the cover nice picture of Halle Berry & Sidney Poitier such great peoples and I continue wishing them the best.
LEGENDARY SELLOUTS
…At least one of them actually has talent