Sidney Poitier, pioneering actor and first Black man to win Best Actor Oscar, has died at the age of 94.
Clint Watson, press secretary for the Prime Minister of Bahamas, stated that the actor died Thursday evening at his home in Los Angeles.
Poitier, who held dual U.S. and Bahamian nationality, was “an icon, a hero, a mentor, a fighter, a national treasure,” Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper said on his official Facebook page.
Poitier came from humble beginnings in the Bahamas. He was born unexpectedly in Miami during a visit. At the age of 15, he moved to Miami and then a year later to New York.
Poitier career begin when he joined the American Negro Theater, landing his breakthrough rile in the film Blackboard Jungle. He then starred in the film The Defiant Ones, which received 9 Academy Award nominations.
In 1964, Poitier won a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Lilies of the Field. The monumental event made him the first Black actor to win an Oscar.
Poitier also starred in films: A Raisin in the Sun, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Stir Crazy, Shoot to Kill, and many more.
In 1994, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and in 2009 he received the Presidential Medal of honor from President Barack Obama. He was also named a Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1974.
These are just a few of the many honors Poitier received in his life.
Poitier paved the way for many African American actors. Although thus is said to be true, he remained modest about his career.
“History will pinpoint me as merely a minor element in an ongoing major event, a small if necessary energy,” he wrote. “But I am nonetheless gratified at having been chosen.”
“My wife and children mean the most to me,” he told PEOPLE in 2016. He continued talking about his wife Joanna Shimkus, who he married in 1976, saying “We’ve been together 49 years and I’m a good cook. I cook every night.”
Poitier leaves behind Joanna Shimkus as well as five daughters: Beverly, Pamela, Sherri, Anika, and Sydney. His daughter Gina Poitier died in 2018.
Sending condolences to the Poitier family. Rest well, King.
