Academy-Award Winning Actor Sidney Poitier Dead
(Undated) — Academy-Award winning actor Sidney Poitier is dead at the age of 94. The Bahamian Minister of Foreign Affairs confirmed the news today. He was the first Black actor to win an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role for “Lilies of the Field.”
Poitier grew up on a farm on the Bahamian providence Cat Island, which was a British Crown colony at the time, and his family would often travel to Miami to sell produce. Poitier was born in Miami while his parents were visiting and had duel-citizenship. Poitier’s breakout role was as Gregory W. Miller, a member of a hopeless high-school class in the 1955 film “Blackboard Jungle.” Poitier also received critical acclaim for his work in “A Raisin in the Sun and A Patch of Blue.” He also became part of the social zeitgeist for his role in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?”
Poitier was also the first Black actor to receive a Golden Globe award. Poitier received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth The Second in 1974. From 1997 to 2007, he served as the Bahamian Ambassador to Japan. In 2009, President Obama awarded Poitier the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S.
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Source staff/jm FL) BN)
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01-07-2022 08:40:11
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