He was the first black man to win the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Legendary Hollywood star Sidney Poitier has died at the age of 94.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Bahamas Fred Mitchell announced the actor’s death on Friday.
Born in Miami in 1927, Poitier was raised in the Bahamas where his family lived.
His film career took off in the 1950s before the actor won an Academy Award for 1963 comedy-drama Lillies in the Field, making him the first Black man to win the award.
Poitier was also nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for 1958 adventure drama The Defiant Ones and received the Academy Honorary Award for his lifetime achievement in film in 2002.
As well as this, the actor was acclaimed for his roles in iconic movies Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and In the Heat of the Night and was a successful director, helming hit 1980 comedy Stir Crazy.
On top of his film work, from 1997 to 2007, Poitier served as Bahamian Ambassador to Japan.
He was one of the last surviving major stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema.
Tributes have begun to pour in on social media for Poitier following his passing.
https://twitter.com/WhoopiGoldberg/status/1479478453699330054
Sidney Poitier. What a landmark actor. One of a kind. What a beautiful, gracious, warm, genuinely regal man. RIP, Sir. With love.
(📷Sam Falk/NYT) pic.twitter.com/5ZaKxxPdxw
— Jeffrey Wright 🥜 (@jfreewright) January 7, 2022
Sidney Poitier, the first Black man to win an Oscar, has died at the age of 94. The star of “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner” and “Lilies of the Field,” for which he won Best Actor, was a trailblazer who will be mourned by so many for whom he opened the very doors of Hollywood.
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) January 7, 2022
Sidney Poitier. An absolute legend. One of the greats. pic.twitter.com/jd2Xd7vmIJ
— Joseph Gordon-Levitt (@hitRECordJoe) January 7, 2022
I once had the honor to shake Sidney Poitier’s hand. May he Rest in Power knowing he was loved and trailblazer in our industry who lit up the screen with his talent. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/LZixjXUAJW
— Cary Elwes (@Cary_Elwes) January 7, 2022
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
