in an interview with the new york times in 1980 night, sidney poitier, discussed what it was like to be america s first black actor on the long road to winning an oscar he said, during the period when i was the only person here, no bill cosby, no eddie murphy, no denzel washington, i was carrying the hopes and aspirations of an entire people. i had no control over content. no creative leverage except to refuse to do a film, which i often did. i had to satisfy the action fans, the romantic fans, the intellectual fence. it was a terrific burden. i had the honor of meeting sidney poitier a few times i ve group dinners. and i knew maryland bergman, but you didn t have to know these people to love them. and that love began with the love we share for their work. one thing i know that they all share is a belief in the ideals by sidney poitier, in august of
orlando. bob s death came the day after i spoke at the funeral of my friend joan bowman, who i have known since he was in college. he was a brilliant comedy writer who created martin with martin lawrence. he appeared to be perfectly healthy and was 64 years old when his heart suddenly stopped beating decades too soon. john bowman and bob saget brought the kind of joy into people s homes and their hearts that only tv comedy can deliver in steady, healing doses. maryland bergman s work will live in our house with her husband, she wrote po some of the most moving songs we know which have been sung by musical giants like frank sinatra, barbra streisand and many, many others. she found the time to write the theme song for a girl s school