The legendary Hollywood actor Sidney Poitier is dead. The first black actor in history to win an Oscar for best actor died at the age of 94, according to the Bahamas’ Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper announced on Friday. Poitier was the first black superstar in Hollywood with films such as “Flucht in Ketten” (1958), “Lilien auf dem Felde” (1963) and “In der Wärme der Nacht” (1967).
Poitier was born in Miami, Florida, in 1927. His parents – poor tomato growers – came from the Bahamas, where he also grew up. At the age of 15, Poitier moved to Florida to live with his older brother, and later to New York, where he initially got by with small jobs. After his success on Broadway, he moved to Hollywood – and soon had great success there.
He received his first Oscar nomination for “Escape in Chains”, and in 1964 he won the coveted gold statue for “Lilies in the Field”. Never before had a black actor been honored with an Oscar for best leading actor. Poitier received the Oscar at a time when blacks were still denied many elementary rights and in many places there was overwhelming racism.