Sidney Poitier, the first African American to receive an Academy Award for Best Actor, died at the age of 94. In 1963, he received the Academy Award for Lilies of the Field, breaking down racial barriers in the film industry. According to former US President Barack Obama, Poitier “epitomized elegance and grace” and possessed “unique talent.” For me, the greatest of the “Great Trees” has fallen, said US broadcaster and writer Oprah Winfrey, adding that the actor “had a huge soul I will forever treasure.”
In the Heat of the Night, Sidney Poitier The actor was a fixture on the big screen during a period of racial segregation in the United States, appearing in films such as Patch of Blue in 1965, Heat of the Night the next year, and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner the following year, in which he played a black guy with a white fiancée. “The proud, dignified, handsome, and strong black man that we see in our communities all the time, but now burst and burned through the silver screens of Hollywood,” said Oscar winner Spike Lee.
Jeffrey Wright, who has played James Bond and Westworld, has described himself as a “landmark performer.” “An icon for the black diaspora,” said Sir Steve McQueen. Sidney Poitier is a well-known actor. In a 2000 interview, Winfrey told Poitier that he had “invented and defined the African-American in film,” as producer Quincy Jones had said. Sidney Poitier, the first black actor to receive an American Film Institute Life Achievement Award, died at the age of 94.
