By Jason Guerrasio—
- Sydney Poitier, the legendary actor who became the first Black actor to win the Best Actor Oscar, has died, according to local reports.
- His landmark career included his support of the civil rights movement in the 1960s.
- Later in his life, Poitier dedicated his life to humanitarian work
Legendary actor Sidney Poitier, the first male Black actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, has died, the Bahamian Minister of Foreign Affairs told Eyewitness News Bahamas.
He was 94.
Poitier was a trailblazing Bahamian-American actor who — along with a career filled with landmark acting, directing, and producing roles — was also a voice for civil rights in the 1960s, and an ambassador for his beloved home country of the Bahamas.
Poitier broke through in Hollywood, getting acclaim Black actors rarely received before
Poitier’s work in Hollywood may have led to groundbreaking and iconic performances, but it didn’t start out easy for him.
At 16, he moved to New York City and mostly found work as a dishwasher. In November of 1943, he lied about his age and enlisted in the Army to fight in World War II. After leaving the Army a year later, he landed a spot at the American Negro Theatre (there he would meet life-long friend, fellow upcoming actor Harry Belafonte).
Struggling to connect with audiences due to his Bahamian accent, Poitier dedicated himself to the acting craft and for six months refined his skills, leading to roles on Broadway.
Hollywood soon came calling, and he landed the role of a doctor treating a bigot in the 1950 movie “No Way Out.” In 1955, Poitier scored a breakout performance as one of the unruly kids in “Blackboard Jungle.”
Three years later, Poitier starred opposite Tony Curtis in “The Defiant Ones,” playing escaped prisoners who are chained together. The movie was a commercial and critical success, showcasing Poitier’s raw talent. The movie would earn both Poitier and Curtis Oscar nominations and a Best Picture nod for the movie.
Poitier’s nomination would mark the first time ever that a Black man was nominated in the Best Actor category.
He would make more history when he became the first Black actor to win in the Best Actor Oscar category for his performance in “Lilies of the Field.” Poitier stunned audiences with his performance as a handyman who encounters a group of nuns who believe he was sent to them by God to build them a new chapel.
He and friend Harry Belafonte were major fixtures during the civil rights movement
As the most prominent Black actor in Hollywood of his time, Poitier used his fame to fight for change.
He began being a voice for the Civil Rights Movement alongside Belafonte.
In the early 1960s, Belafonte convinced Poitier to drive to the South with $70,000 to give to the Freedom Summer volunteers. The experience changed Poitier’s life as the two actors were chased by Klansmen who fired guns at them, according to the New York Times.
The two also helped organize the landmark March on Washington in 1964, which featured Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s landmark “I Have a Dream” speech.
A year before Dr. King’s assassination, the civil rights icon said of Poitier: “He is a man of great depth, a man of great social concern, a man who is dedicated to human rights and freedom. Here is a man who, in the words we so often hear now, is a soul brother.”
Poitier became a huge star in the 1970s and an accomplished director
Poitier’s stardom would only grow in the late 1960s.
In 1967, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” found him playing a Black man who meets his white girlfriend’s parents (played by Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn). He also starred in the crime thriller “In the Heat of the Night,” in which he plays Virgil Tibbs, a Philadelphia detective who investigates a murder in a southern town.
Poitier would go on to play the Tibbs character in two sequels, “They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!” (1970) and “The Organization” (1971).
Into the 1970s, Poitier turned to directing, producing hits like “Uptown Saturday Night” (1974) and “A Piece of the Action,” (1977) both starring Bill Cosby. In 1980, he directed “Stir Crazy,” starring Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder.
Poitier turned to humanitarian work later in his life
Later in his life, Poitier turned to humanitarian efforts, specifically in the Bahamas, where he grew up before moving to Miami at 15.
He was the Bahamian ambassador to Japan from 1997 to 2007 and from 2002 to 2007 was the ambassador of the Bahamas to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
President Barack Obama presented Poitier with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009, the country’s highest civilian honor.
Poitier was married twice. In 1950 he married Juanita Hardy, they divorced in 1965. His current wife, Joanna Shimkus, he married in 1976.
He was survived by six children, including actress Sydney Tamiia Poitier.
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