Cuba Gooding Jr. Celebrates Life of Sidney Poitier at O’Connors Pub in Pawling

I'll bet that there aren't many of us who can say that they've hung around with an Academy Award-Winning Actor, but that's exactly what could have happened to you if you were at O'Connor's Pub in Pawling, New York over this past weekend.

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We just spoke to O'Connor's employee Kathleen Eleanor, who told us that Cuba Gooding Jr., who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in 1996's Jerry Maguire, visited the O'Connor's Pub on Broad Street in Pawling on consecutive nights this weekend.

Why was Gooding Jr. at O'Connor's? We had to find out more, so we asked Kathleen, who told us that Cuba was in town having dinner with "A friend who lives in the area, somewhere near by, I'm assuming it was at McKinney and Doyle's. He said he was out celebrating the life of Sidney Poitier, the first African American man to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, who had unfortunately passed away the day prior." (Poitier passed away Thursday, January 6, 2022.

Gooding Jr. has appeared in numerous legendary films in his career, including A Few Good Men, Boyz n the Hood, As Good as It Gets, Outbreak, Pearl Harbor, Radio, and of course, his Oscar-winning role that spawned the catchphrase "Show me the money" in Jerry Maguire.

Of course, we had to ask Kathleen the important questions -

What did he order? - According to Kathleen, "Vodka and soda"

Did he leave a nice tip? "Yes"

Was he approachable? "So approachable! I tried to play it cool because at first I was thinking to myself that man looks EXACTLY like Cuba Gooding Jr., but once he handed over his card for the tab, I was in complete shock! People slowly started introducing themselves to him and he was so warm and welcoming to the attention. He was talking to everyone, dancing, and taking pictures with people."

O'Connor's Public House has 4 area locations: 317 Federal Road in Brookfield, 46 Railroad St. in New Milford, 26 E Main St. in Torrington, and Cuba Gooding Jr.'s favorite - 6 Broad St. in Pawling.

Thank you Kathleen!