The TV icons connected at the premiere of the Apple TV+ documentary, 'Sidney.'
People aren't done giving Sheryl Lee Ralph her flowers -- both literally and figuratively -- after her momentous Emmy win, and this time she's getting the love in person. On Wednesday, the Abbott Elementary star had an emotional meeting with Oprah Winfrey after the latter sent her a huge bouquet of flowers in congratulations on her Emmy Award.
The pair connected at the L.A. premiere of Sidney, the Apple TV+ documentary Winfrey produced about Sidney Poitier's life, just a week after Ralph became the second Black actress to win the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series her beloved role as Barbara Howard on Abbott Elementary.
After Ralph's win, Winfrey sent an appropriately grand floral arrangement delivered to the set of Abbott Elementary. The actress read the included card in an Instagram video posted to her page, reciting, "Congratulations on the best acceptance speech of all time. I’m still celebrating you. Blessings, Oprah."
"I am still basking in the glow of love and I am still smelling the flowers and I am still so thankful and grateful to all of you and Oprah too!!!" the 65-year-old star added as her caption to the video.
When the two saw one another at the Sidney premiere, their greeting was the human equivalent of a giant floral arrangement: Winfrey screamed and held her arms out to Ralph, who leaned into the hug with a huge smile on her face.
Oprah Daily captured the moment on a video posted to their Instagram page. When Winfrey asked Ralph how she was feeling after the win, the actress responded that "it's been the most amazing thing ever."
"I remember the birth of my children, I remember getting married," she added. "I'll never forget those and getting this Emmy."
"It was the most incredible moment where you literally brought everything that you've ever struggled for, ever tried for," Winfrey told the actress. "All of our feelings were right there with you. You spoke for all of us. You did that thing."
The former talk show host said it was a "blessing" that Ralph won the award this late in her career. "I'm really even happy that God waited till now, 'cause you were so ready for it, you know?" Winfrey said as they parted ways.
The duo's meeting at the premiere of the Apple TV+ documentary is particularly poignant given their individual connections to the man being honored.
Winfrey has openly regarded Poitier as a confidant and guide for many years. During last year's Black History Month, Winfrey opened up to ET about Poitier's legacy and how he laid the groundwork for her and many others within the industry.
"When I tell you profoundly, I could start weeping right now, I was profoundly, deeply, sincerely moved by that moment," Winfrey said, looking back on Poitier's historic Oscar win for Lilies of the Field. At the time, the future talk show host was only 10 years old. "We were being called colored people at the time. [And] I had never seen a colored man look like that or present like that. And I just thought if he could do that, I wonder what I could do."
She added, "And because he did that, I was able to do what I have been able to do in the world, and every single other Black person who followed. It only happened because he was able not just to do that, but to be that. It's what he represented: his dignity, integrity, presence, grace, sense of honor, choice of characters only doing, and choosing roles that were going to reflect the best of what a Black person could be in the world."
As Ralph explained in a post on her Instagram page, Poitier led her to her big break -- the 1977 film A Piece of the Action. She previously told ET that the inspiration for her Abbott Elementary veteran teacher comes from her first role as Barbara Hadley alongside Poitier in the film.
"Here was this rough girl who came up the rough side of the mountain and had a teacher who just didn't understand her and I connected the dots, saying to myself, 'Here she has grown up to be Barbara Howard, the teacher who understands what her students need because they're all different,'" she explained. "I grew up around all of these Barbara Howards and, for me, it was to just give them life, give them a voice. I didn't think it was going to be anything that anybody was going to pay this kind of attention to. But I'm thankful."
Sidney will premiere in select theaters and globally on Apple TV+ Friday, Sept. 23.
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