He read pretty good. And the reading, once begun, never stopped.
—
**Slug:** sidney-poitier-jewish-waiter-reading-oscar-lilies-of-the-field
**Meta description:** Sidney Poitier credited an elderly Jewish waiter’s reading lessons with changing his life. Seventeen years later, he became the first Black man to win the Academy Award for Best Actor.
**Category:** Celebrity / Unlikely Mentor
**Thumbnail hook:** The waiter who taught Sidney Poitier to read never knew he was helping shape Oscar history.
**Source notes:**
Poitier’s account of the Jewish waiter is drawn from his own retellings across multiple decades, including his appearance at the 20th AFI Life Achievement Award (1992), his 2013 interview with Lesley Stahl on CBS Sunday Morning, interviews with Oprah Winfrey, and his Academy of Achievement interview (achievement.org). In the AFI speech, Poitier stated: “I cannot tell you his name. I never knew it. But I read pretty good now.” In the CBS Sunday Morning interview, he acknowledged: “One of my great regrets in life is that I went on to be a very successful actor, and one day I tried to find him, but it was too late.” These are Poitier’s retrospective recollections; the waiter’s identity, immigrant background, and personal history are unknown and not claimed here.
The 36th Academy Awards ceremony date (April 13, 1964), Best Actor award for Lilies of the Field, and the presenter (Anne Bancroft) are confirmed via the official Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences records (oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1964). Hattie McDaniel’s 1940 Best Supporting Actress win (for a 1939 film) is separately confirmed; Poitier’s 1964 win was the first competitive Best Actor win by a Black performer, and he was the third Black person overall to receive any Oscar.