The first Black man to win a competitive Oscar for best actor, Poitier was a trailblazer as a Black leading man of the 1950s and 1960s with such films as In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. Bahamas Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell announced the actor's passing in the Bahamas. Poitier was awarded two Oscars: best actor for 1963's Lillies in the Field and an honorary award in 2002 "for his extraordinary performances and unique presence on the screen and for representing the industry with dignity, style and intelligence." "Tall and handsome, with a low and seductively smooth voice and what one writer called an 'almost princely bearing,' Poitier projected an air of quiet dignity in roles that shattered stereotypes," says Dennis McLellan in Poitier's Los Angeles Times obituary. "For me, the greatest of the 'Great Trees' has fallen: Sidney Poitier," wrote Oprah Winfrey of the actor, her role model, who once surprised her on her show. "My honor to have loved him as a mentor. Friend. Brother. Confidant. Wisdom teacher. The utmost, highest regard and praise for his most magnificent, gracious, eloquent life. I treasured him. I adored him. He had an enormous soul I will forever cherish. Blessings to Joanna and his world of beautiful daughters." Fellow Oscar winner Viola Davis tweeted: "This is a big one. No words can describe how your work radically shifted my life. The dignity, normalcy, strength, excellence and sheer electricity you brought to your roles showed us that we, as Black folks, mattered!!! It was an honor." Poitier also earned two Emmy nominations: for playing Nelson Mandela in Showtime's 1997 TV movie Mandela and de Klerk and for playing Thurgood Marshall in the 1991 ABC miniseries Separate But Equal.
ALSO:
TOPICS: Obits, Oprah Winfrey, Sidney Poitier, Viola Davis, African Americans and TV