He was the first black comedian to win the Oscar for Best Actor in 1964 for his performance in The lily of the fields by Ralph Nelson. Sir Sidney Poitier died on Friday at the age of 94, Bahamas Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell told the media
Eyewitness News Bahamas. He was also the first black actor nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor for the film. The Defiant Ones in 1958.
Speaking of his death, Fred Mitchell said: “We have lost a great Bahamian and I have lost a personal friend. “We have lost an icon, a hero, a mentor, a fighter, and a national treasure,” Deputy Bahamian Prime Minister Chester Cooper wrote on his Facebook page about the actor from Chain or even In the heat of the Night, without mentioning the cause of his death.
Sidney Poitier, of Haitian descent, was born in Miami in 1927 but grew up in the village of Cat Islands, Bahamas. At fifteen, his father sent him to try his luck in the United States. Passionate about cinema, he studied at the prestigious Actors Studio, where he paid for the lessons as a concierge. The film industry’s lack of diversity is still a problem in the 21st century. But when the actor made his film debut in The door opens (No Way Out) by Joseph L. Mankiewicz in 1950, black actors almost always invisible.
There had been other black actors in leading movie roles, including James Edwards and Harry Belafonte, but they were extremely rare. Hattie McDaniel was the only black performer to receive the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Gone with the Frit. Sidney Poitier is the first black actor to achieve star status, capturing audiences with his soft yet powerful voice (with that slight unidentifiable accent from the Bahamas).
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