Stephen Perry has paid tribute to his “adopted” father, Sidney Poitier.
The 73-year-old actor starred alongside the late Hollywood legend — who died on Jan. 6, 2022, at 94 — when he was just 12 years old in 1961’s A Raisin in the Sun and he recalled how Sidney always used to “watch out” for him in the early days of his career.
Perry — who played Poitier’s on-screen son in A Raisin in the Sun — said: “He [had quite a sense of humor]. He made it comfortable for me with his sense of humor and warmth. I felt hugged, I felt his arm around my shoulder. I always felt a part of the cast.
“Just a consummate professional. I was a kid, there were a cast of people who were there before me, and Sidney made me feel welcomed to that group of people. I was the new kid in the cast as well, for him to embrace me like he did, certainly I knew that I was the new kid. They made me feel welcome.”
Describing their relationship as a father-son bond, he told “Entertainment Tonight,” “Well, little old for a father now, but certainly growing up it was a father-son relationship. He and Sammy Davis Jr. watched out for me, they made me comfortable. We’re talking 60 years ago and these were two of the biggest stars, Black stars in Hollywood, and both of them took me as their adopted sons.”
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