The first Black performer to win the Academy Award for best actor, for “Lilies of the Field,” he once said he felt “as if I were representing 15, 18 million people with every move I made.”
Sidney Poitier, whose portrayal of resolute heroes in films like “To Sir With Love,” “In the Heat of the Night” and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” established him as Hollywood’s first Black matinee idol.
Sydney Poitier, was the First Black Man to Win an Oscar and a Titan of Cinema, and Hollywood.
He helped open the door for Black actors in the film industry, died on Thursday night at his home in Los Angeles. He was 94.
