Acting icon Sidney Poitier, who died last week aged 94, might never have got his acting break were it not for the kindness of an elderly Jewish waiter.

In an interview with CBS’s Lesley Stahl in 2013, Poitier revealed how a Jewish colleague in a restaurant he worked in taught him how to read.

Sidney Poitier’s acting career was kickstarted by an elderly Jewish waiter who taught him to readpic.twitter.com/3zAMAOXLUX

— The Jewish Chronicle (@JewishChron) January 10, 2022

He said: “I had a newspaper and he walked over to me, and he said, ‘What’s new in the paper?’ And I looked up at him and I said to him, ‘I can’t tell you what’s in the paper, because I can’t read very well.’ He said, ‘Let me ask you something, would you like me to read with you?’ I said to him, ‘Yes, if you like.’”

“Every night, when the restaurant was closed, he sat there with me week after week after week, I learnt a lot”

The legendary Bahamian actor then explained how a theatre company that had previously rejected him, the American Negro Theatre in Harlem for not being able to read scripts then offered him a job, that lead to his first big break in show business.

It was after his initial rejection from the American Negro Theatre, that he took a job at a New York restaurant and subsequently learned how to read.

After his successful apprenticeship, Poitier then went on to play a series of iconic roles including Mr. Tibbs as well as directing a number of features as well as writing a Science-fcition novel called Montaro Caine in 2013, which featured a Jewish protagonist.

Mr. Poitier is survived by his widow and partner of 46 years, Joanna Shimkus, a Canadian actress who was born to a Lithuanian Jewish father and Catholic in Nova Scotia.

Despite being born in the US, Poitier was a Bahamian citizen and therefore eligible for the knighthood bestowed upon him by Queen Elizabeth in 1974.