Sidney Poitier, first Black man to win Best Actor Oscar and a titan of cinema, dead at 94
Sidney Poitier, the first Black man to win a Best Actor Oscar, has died. He was 94.
With a staggering list of accolades, including an Academy Award, a Presidential Medal of Freedom and a knighthood, Poitier leaves behind an indelible legacy that extends far beyond his commanding screen presence.
Poitier’s own story, with its humble beginnings and remarkable twists of fate, rivals that of any of his movies.
He was born two months premature in Miami in 1927 - the likelihood of his survival so remote, his father returned home with a shoebox in which to bury the baby, the last of his many siblings.
Film success was slow in coming for Poitier; but a role in Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s racially explosive drama No Way Out in 1950 cast Poitier as a noble African American taking a stand against bigotry.
In 1959, Poitier picked up his first Best Actor Oscar nod for his role in The Defiant Ones, opposite Tony Curtis.
That same year, Poitier starred in A Raisin in the Sun on Broadway and a star-studded adaptation of the Gershwin musical Porgy and Bess.
Poitier won the Best Actor Academy Award in 1963 — the first Black man to do so — for his role in Lilies of the Field.
He released three iconic films in 1967: To Sir With Love, In the Heat of the Night, and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.
Poitier went on to have 55 credits on film, as well as directing nine films - including two with comedian Gene Wilder: Stir Crazy (1980) and Hanky Panky (1982).
At: https://people.com/movies/sidney-poitier-first-black-man-to-win-an-oscar-and-a-titan-of-cinema-dead-at-94/
Legendary actor, director, and activist Sidney Poitier, 1927-2022.
"If I'm remembered for having done a few good things, and if my presence here has sparked some good energies, that's plenty."
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