Sidney Poitier KBE (February 20, 1927 – January 6, 2022) was a Bahamian and American actor, film director, and diplomat. In 1964, he became the first black actor and first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, for Lilies of the Field. Other accolades include two competitive Golden Globe Awards, a competitive British Academy of Film and Television Arts award (BAFTA), and a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album. Major films featuring Poitier in a starring role include Blackboard Jungle (1955), The Defiant Ones (1958), To Sir, with Love (1967), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), In the Heat of the Night (1967), Sneakers (1992), and The Jackal (1997). Later in his career, he turned to directing with features such as Buck and the Preacher (1972), Uptown Saturday Night (1974), Stir Crazy (1980), and Ghost Dad (1990). At the time of his death, Poitier was one of the last major stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema.
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Sidney Poitier was a pioneering Bahamian-American actor, director, and diplomat who became the first Black actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor.
He is renowned for starring roles in landmark films like In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and Lilies of the Field, as well as directing successful features.
He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1964 for Lilies of the Field, breaking a major barrier in American cinema.
He directed popular comedy and drama features during the 1970s and 1980s, including Stir Crazy and Uptown Saturday Night.
