A renowned actress, once married to the legendary Sidney Poitier until his passing at the age of 94, was recently spotted making a rare public appearance in Los Angeles.
This talented performer had the privilege of working alongside cinematic icons Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton before meeting Poitier on the set of their 1969 film, “The Lost Man.”
The couple, who shared two children, exchanged vows in 1976 and remained devotedly married until Poitier’s death in 2022.
While she starred in films such as “Boom!”, “Ho!”, “The Uninvited”, and “The Virgin and the Gypsy,” she eventually stepped away from her acting career to focus on family life with Poitier.
Now aged 82, she was recently seen making an entrance at the popular Beverly Hills venue, Cipriani.
Can you guess the identity of this iconic figure?
A silver screen icon who is the widow of the late great Sidney Poitier was spotted out in Los Angeles last week… can you guess who the star is?
If you guessed Joanna Shimkus, you are correct!
Shimkus was seen being dropped off at the Italian restaurant, where an kind valet offered her his arm and helped her out of the vehicle.
A smiling Shimkus looped her hand around the gentleman’s arm and made her way towards the sidewalk with the assistance of her cane.
Originally hailing from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Shimkus has an impressive list of Hollywood credits under her name.
She had starred in The Last Adventure, The Virgin and the Gypsy, Ho!, and even worked with the sensational power couple of the time, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in the 1968 film Boom!
But she gave up her film career to be with Poitier and devote herself to their family.
‘I guess my career was very short-lived,’ she said in the 1998 PBS documentary Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light. ‘I started out making the French films and then when I met Sidney and I knew – he didn’t really know it, obviously, because it took him eight years and two children to marry me – but I knew that this was the man of my life, you know, that this was going to be my partner in life’
‘And I knew that you really can’t have, I believe, for myself and for him, two egos, you know, in that same kind of space. And his was definitely a bigger career than mine.
‘So I decided what I wanted most anyway was a relationship, a family. And that was more important than a career. So I gave it up.’
If you guessed Joanna Shimkus, you are correct!
Shimkus met her husband working with him in the 1969 film, The Lost Man
The couple were married from 1976 until Sidney’s death in 2022
She was spotted arriving to Cipriani in Beverly Hills, where a helpful valet happily helped her out
Joanna wore an all-black outfit paired with a chic purse and a collection of jewelry
She explained: ‘I wanted to have the family that I never had. I wanted to be the mother to my children that, you know, I never had. And I was always there for my children. I never worked. My mother always worked.
It was his character that drew Shimkus to him.
‘The thing that attracted me to him the most, I think, is his integrity and his honesty… his loyalty to his family. He’s just an amazing human being. He’s just a good, good, good person,’ she said.
‘And he’s cute too, yes! And he was especially gorgeous then. He still is too now, but he was very, very attractive then.’
They wed in 1976, after Shimkus gave birth to their two daughters – Anika Poitier, 54, and Sydney Tamiia Poitier, 52.
The marriage to Shimkus marked the second time Poitier had walked down the aisle. He was previously wed to Juanita Hardy, with whom he had four daughters with.
Poitier’s second marriage to Shimkus endured happily for 45 years, and he was known as doting family man to his daughters, who recalled in a 2013 interview how he used to play along when they dressed him up as children.
‘He’d be on location and we’d put barrettes in his hair,’ his youngest two daughters told The Hollywood Reporter. ‘We’d make him call room service. And he’d have to open the door with pink barrettes and lipstick on.’
Shimkus’ legendary background includes a film working with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton
Shimkus emerged from the vehicle with the assistance of the valet and her cane
Shimkus and Poitier pictured with their daughters Sydney and Anika in 2002
The Hollywood power couple and their children pictured in Beverly Hills
The couple, pictured in 1972 with daughter Anika
Joanna’s film credits include a role in The Virgin And The Gypsy
‘He’s just an amazing human being. He’s just a good, good, good person,’ she said of her spouse in 1998
‘If you apply reason and logic to this career of mine, you’re not going to get very far,’ he told the Washington Post. ‘The journey has been incredible from its beginning. So much of life, it seems to me, is determined by pure randomness.’
Poitier died at age 94 in 2022 as a result of a heart failure, Alzheimer’s dementia and prostate cancer.
After the news of his death broke, his family released a statement that revealed how grateful they were that their father was ‘able to spend his last day surrounded by his family and friends.’
‘To us Sidney Poitier was not only a brilliant actor, activist, and a man of incredible grace and moral fortitude, he was also a devoted and loving husband, a supportive and adoring father, and a man who always put family first,’ the statement read.
‘He is our guiding light who lit up our lives with infinite love and wonder. His smile was healing, his hugs the warmest refuge, and his laughter was infectious.’
