As the most prominent black Hollywood actor of his day, Poitier used his fame to fight for change.
Legendary actor Sidney Poitier, the first black male actor to win the Academy Award for best actor, has died, confirmed to Insider the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Bahamas.
Poitier was a pioneering Bahamian-American actor who, along with a career full of iconic acting, directing and producing roles, was also a voice for civil rights in the 1960s and an ambassador for his beloved home country, the Bahamas. .
Poitier made his way into Hollywood, garnering accolades that black actors rarely received before.
Poitier’s work in Hollywood may have spawned groundbreaking and iconic performances, but it didn’t start out easy for him.
At 16 he moved to New York City and mainly found work as a dishwasher. In November 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 place at the American Negro Theater (there he would meet his longtime friend, the upcoming actor Harry Belafonte).
Struggling to connect with the public due to his Bahamian accent, Poitier devoted himself to the art of acting, honing his skills for six months, leading to Broadway roles.
Hollywood soon called him in, and he landed the role of a doctor treating a bigot in the 1950 film No Way Out. In 1955, Poitier got a great performance as one of the rebellious children in Blackboard Jungle.
Three years later, Poitier starred alongside Tony Curtis The Defiant Ones, playing runaway prisoners who are in chains. The film was a critical and commercial success, showcasing Poitier’s raw talent. The film would win Oscar nominations from both Poitier and Curtis and a nod for best picture.
Poitier’s nomination would mark the first time a black man has been nominated in the best actor category.
He would make more history when he became the first black actor to win the Best Actor Oscar category for his performance in Lilies of the Field. Poitier wowed audiences with his performance as a handyman meeting a group of nuns who believe God sent them to build a new chapel for them.
He and his friend Harry Belafonte were important elements during the civil rights movement. As the most prominent black Hollywood actor of his day, Poitier used his fame to fight for change.
She began to be a voice for the Civil Rights Movement along with Belafonte.
In the early 1960s, Belafonte convinced Poitier to drive south with $ 70,000 to give to Freedom Summer volunteers. The experience changed Poitier’s life when the two actors were chased by Klan members who shot them, according to the New York Times.
The two also helped organize the historic march on Washington in 1964, which featured Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s memorable speech “I Have a Dream.”
A year before the assassination of Dr. King, the civil rights icon said of Poitier: “He is a man of great depth, a man of great social concern, a man dedicated to human rights and freedom. Here is a man who, in the words we hear so often 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 He found him playing a black man who knows his white girlfriend’s parents (played by Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn). He also starred in the thriller policeman In the Heat of the Night, in which he plays Virgil Tibbs, a Philadelphia detective investigating a murder in a southern city.
Poitier would play the character of Tibbs in two sequels, They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970) and The organization (1971).
In the 1970s, Poitier turned to directing and produced hits such as Uptown Saturday Night (1974) and A Piece of the Action (1977), both starring Bill Cosby. In 1980, he directed Stir Crazystarring Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder.
Poitier devoted himself to humanitarian work later in his life.
Later in life, Poitier devoted himself to humanitarian endeavors, specifically in the Bahamas, where he grew up before moving to Miami at age 15.
He was ambassador of the Bahamas to Japan from 1997 to 2007 and from 2002 to 2007 to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
President Barack Obama presented Poitier with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009, the highest civilian honor in the country.
Poitier was married twice: in 1950 with Juanita Hardy, they divorced in 1965; He married his current wife, Joanna Shimkus, in 1976.
He was survived by six children, including actress Sydney Tamiia Poitier.
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