Sidney Poitier, the first black actor to win the Oscar for Best Actor and Symbol of Racial Integration in the United States in the 1960s, died this Friday at the age of 94. The statement of his death came from the Bahamian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for whom he was a lifelong ambassador.
He won an Oscar for ‘The Lilies of the Meadows’ in 1963, although his best-known films would be ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner’ (1967), in which he played the perfect son-in-law. which uncovered the racist prejudice of an American middle-class couple starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy.
He starred in the anti-war film ‘State of Alarm’ with Richard Widmark, ‘They call me Mr Tibbs’ and in the legendary ‘Rebellion in the Classrooms’, where he played the teacher who left the skin for his students.
He has also directed films such as ‘Uptown Saturday Night’, and ‘Let’s Do It Again’ (with his friend Bill Cosby), and ‘Crazy Shots’ (starring Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder).
In 2002, 38 years following receiving the Academy Award for Best Actor, Poitier was chosen by the Hollywood Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to receive the Academy Award.Honorary Oscar.
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