People: Apr. 28, 1997

FROM SIR, WITH LOVE

He has been everything from a longshoreman to a film director and has played everyone from Thurgood Marshall to Simon of Cyrene, so SIDNEY POITIER's new role shouldn't be that much of a stretch. The actor has been named the Bahamian ambassador to Japan. Poitier has dual American-Bahamian citizenship (his parents were Bahamian tomato farmers who sold their produce in Florida, where he was born). The job does not come with an embassy in Tokyo, and Poitier will practice his diplomacy from the comfort of his own home. But he did pay a visit to Emperor Akihito...

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