American actor Sidney Poitier has died at the age of 94, the first black film star to achieve this level of stardom in Hollywood.
Deputy Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Chester Cooper, said on his official Facebook page that Poitier, who holds dual US and Bahamian citizenship, was “a symbol, a hero, a mentor, a fighter and a national treasure.”
Sidney Poitier was the first black star to be nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in “The Defiant Ones” in 1958, and six years later, he became the first black actor to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in “Lilies of the Field.”
Poitier achieved popularity at the box office with a series of leading roles, at a time when America was experiencing racial tension in the 1950s and 1960s.
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