Movie Icon Sidney Poitier The 1st Black Male Actor To Win An Oscar Has Died At Age 94

Movie Legend Sidney Poitier, the first Black man to win the Oscar for Best Actor, has died at 94. Bahamas Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell confirmed to CBS News. Mitchell was told of Poitier’s death by the family but had no other details.

Poitier’s life was a series of “firsts.” In 1958, he was the first Black actor nominated for an Oscar as Best Actor for his role as an escaped convict chained to Tony Curtis in “The Defiant Ones.” When he was nominated again in 1964, for “Lilies of the Field,” he took home the Academy Award. Poitier’s movie career credits also include, A Raisin in the Sun, In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Uptown Saturday Night, and directed “Let’s Do It Again”

Poitier was awarded the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom — the nation’s highest civilian honor — by Barack Obama in 2009. Click Here To Read More.

Source: CBS News