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07th Jan 2022

Oscar-winning actor Sidney Poitier dies aged 94

Stephen Porzio

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

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