Sir Sidney Poitier, first Black man to win Best Actor Oscar, dies aged 94

Pioneering Hollywood actor Sir Sidney Poitier has died at the age of 94, Bahamian officials have confirmed today (January 7).

Poitier had three box office hits with In the Heat of the Night, To Sir, with Love and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, as well as scoring an Oscar win for Lilies of the Field in 1964. He was the first Black man to win a Best Actor gong, and the first Black person overall to win an Academy Award.

Poitier gave a string of groundbreaking performances on screen that helped combat social prejudice, as well as directing multiple feature films. His work in the 1950s and 60s paved the way for generations of Black film stars, with the minister of foreign affairs of the Bahamas, Fred Mitchell, announcing his death.

The Bahamas deputy prime minister, Chester Cooper, said he was “conflicted with great sadness and a sense of celebration when I learned of the passing of Sir Sidney Poitier.”

He continued: “Sadness that he would no longer be here to tell him how much he means to us, but celebration that he did so much to show the world that those from the humblest beginnings can change the world and that we gave him his flowers while he was with us."

“We have lost an icon. A hero, a mentor, a fighter, a national treasure.”

The Miami-born talent was raised in the Bahamas (then a British colony), and rose up the Hollywood film ranks alongside Harry Belafonte. His Bahamian parents were visiting Miami to sell tomatoes in 1927 when he was born. He later returned to the US aged 15 and began working at a series of low-paid jobs before briefly serving in the army during the second world war (and attempting to feign insanity to win a medical discharge).

Poitier then auditioned for the high-profile American Negro Theater, based in Harlem. Despite being rejected he worked hard to improve his acting skills – and to lose his Bahamian accent. After being allowed to attend classes, Poitier stepped in when Belafonte, then a star student, was unable to perform. Having been talent scouted by a Broadway director, Poitier carved out a nascent career in the Black theatre circuit of the era.

His first major screen role was the 1950 film noir No Way Out. He played a hospital doctor whose racist patient (played by Richard Widmark) starts a race riot. With its overt depiction of racial conflict, No Way Out was considered too controversial to be shown in southern states. Films examining the fraught state of race relations were popular at the time, but there were still limited roles for Black actors in the US.

Poitier then filmed the British-produced adaptation of Cry, the Beloved Country. The film focused on apartheid in South Africa, and was a transformative experience for Poitier, pushing him towards activism.

1955 social comment film Blackboard Jungle was Sidney's breakthrough role. He played a rebellious high school student, with the flick using Bill Haley’s Rock Around the Clock to ensure a large teenage audience. In the UK, it inspired infamous Elephant and Castle teddy boy riot of 1956.

Edge of the City came next, before Poitier secured an groundbreaking Oscar nomination as best actor for The Defiant Ones. The Stanley Kramer message movie highlighted social co-operation, and saw the actor portray a convict who escapes in the deep south while shackled to Tony Curtis. Poitier and Curtis ultimately lost the Academy Award to David Niven for Separate Tables.

Porgy and Bess and A Raisin in the Sun followed, before Poitier finally won his Oscar for the raw drama Lilies of the Field in 1964. He played a handyman who helps a group of German nuns build a chapel in the Arizona desert.

Interracial romance A Patch of Blue was censored in the south, with scenes of Poitier kissing his white co-star Elizabeth Hartman removed. 1967 resulted in three hit films: To Sir with Love, featuring Judy Geeson and Lulu as cast members, In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?.

In the late 1960s and early '70s, Poitier reinvented himself as a director. His debut, Buck and the Preacher, saw him act opposite Belafonte in a civil war western. He cast then-hot comic Bill Cosby in Uptown Saturday Night (1974), Let’s Do It Again (1975) and A Piece of the Action (1977). Stir Crazy, the 1980 jail comedy starring Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor, cemented his high-profile director status.

His presence in film reduced in the '80s and '80s, with Poitier turning to more diplomatic circles. He was knighted in 1974 due to his Bahamian citizenship and appointed Bahamas ambassador to Japan in 1997. An honorary Oscar was bestowed upon him in 2002, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.

Poitier married Juanita Hardy in 1950 before separating in 1965, fathering four children with her. He subsequently wedded Joanna Shimkus in 1976 with whom he had a further two children.

Tributes have already begun pouring in for the charismatic star.

Writing on Twitter, Westworld star Jeffrey Wright paid tribute to Poitier, calling him “a landmark actor. One of a kind. What a beautiful, gracious, warm, genuinely regal man. RIP, Sir. With love.”

Sidney Poitier

Poor People's Campaign, Resurrection City, Washington, D.C., May 1968

Powerful beyond the stage and screen. pic.twitter.com/hEKRxGvoM2

— Be A King (@BerniceKing) January 7, 2022

Bernice King shared an image of Poitier at the Poor People's Campaign in Washington from May 1968, writing:

"Powerful beyond the stage and screen."

The legendary Sidney Poitier has reportedly passed away at 94. A true icon.

Here is a powerful interview from him back in 1968 - he was addressing how he was being treated by the press.

Rest in power. pic.twitter.com/WtjmN2sU27

— Clay 'Critical Thinking Theory' Cane (@claycane) January 7, 2022

Sir Sidney. Rest in your grace and our power. ✊🏿 https://t.co/paRNRcQyt8

— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) January 7, 2022

What a life! A pioneer. His work has meant so much to me from childhood. I was honored to meet him when he attended a party for my book with Vernon Jordan. He was so gracious and warm. Giants are falling. https://t.co/1pykyMBLTk

— Annette Gordon-Reed, FBA (@agordonreed) January 7, 2022

Remember Sidney Poitier was the first Black filmmaker to cross the 100 million dollar box office threshold for STIR CRAZY. Iconic as hell.

— Rendy Jones (@Rendy_Jones) January 7, 2022