Trailblazing Hollywood actor, director, and activist Sidney Poitier has passed away at the age of 94, which was announced by Bahamian Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell on Friday (January 7). His cause of death wasn't made public at the time of the announcement.
Poitier, who starred in classics like A Raisin in the Sun, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, In the Heat of the Night, and To Sir With Love, was the first Black actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor – for 1964’s Lilies of the Field.
Poitier was also the recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 1995, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009, two Golden Globe Awards (including a lifetime achievement honor in 1982), and a Grammy for narrating his autobiography, "The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography," published in 2000.
Poitier is survived by his wife, Joanna Shimkus, and his six daughters.
Source: Deadline
