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| A black girl (Sydney Tamiia Poitier) seeks a tutor (Sidney Poitier), hoping a good education will help her escape from a poor housing project. |
Sidney Poitier, the renowned Hollywood actor,
director and activist who reshaped the culture and way for
countless other Black actors with stirring performances in classics such as “In
the Heat of the Night” and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” has died aged 94 on Friday.
He became the first Black and
Bahamian man to win a Best Actor Oscar for the for films including Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, In the Heat of the Night and Lilies of the Field.
Sidney Poitier was born on February 20, 1927, in Miami, Florida. The family business was travel to Miami to sell tomatoes and other food produce in local market. At age 15, he was sent to Miami to live with his brother's large family and after one year he moved to New York City for the search of job.
At least he joined local hotel
as a dishwasher. in November 1943, he lied about his age and enlisted in
the Army during second world war. He joined hospital as a animal
checker in , New York, and was trained to work with psychiatric patients. Poitier
became upset with how the hospital treated its patients and feigned mental
illness to obtain a discharge. After leaving the Army, he worked as a
dishwasher until a successful audition landed him a role in a Theater production,
In a film career that spanned decades, established
himself as one of the best actor in America. He made history as the first Black
man to win an Academy Award for best actor and, at the height of his fame, he
became a major box-office draw.
His first main film role in 1955’s Blackboard Jungle and his
first experience of awards recognition came with The Defiant Ones (1958), which
saw him nominated for Best Actor alongside co-star Tony Curtis.
Six and half years later, he set historically
won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in Lilies of the Field.
In an interview published on Thursday, he would
have loved to have starred in a film with Poitier, who retired from acting in
2001.
“God bless him – he’s still here, but
yeah, I missed that opportunity,” the actor said.
In 1967, he starred in three
films that was Sir, with Love, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and In the Heat of the Night, under the direction of Norman Jewison.
In the 1980s, he directed many
films, but the most super hit with the Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder comedy Stir Crazy.
In 1995, Poitier received the Kennedy Center Honor and In 2009, Poitier was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama. He was also named an Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Queen Elizabeth II in 1974. He provided the Commencement Address at the University of Miami on May 9, 1986 and received the honorary
degree of Doctor of Fine Arts.
He also served as a diplomat.
In 1997 to 2007, he was named the ambassador of the Bahamas to Japan.
He was two wife’s the first is Juanita Hardy,
from 1960 to 1965. After a nine-year living relation with Diahann Caroll, Poitier married Canadian
actor Joanna Shimkus in 1976. They stayed together for the remainder of his
life. They have six children, eight grandchildren and three
great-grandchildren.
