Actor Sidney Poitier speaks on stage at the 30th Carousel of Hope gala in Beverly Hills, California October 25, 2008. The evening benefits the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
In “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” he played a Black man with a white fiancee and “In the Heat of the Night” he was Virgil Tibbs, a Black police officer confronting racism during a murder investigation. He also played a teacher in a tough London school that year in “To Sir, With Love.” Poitier was born in Miami on Feb. 20, 1927, and raised on a tomato farm in the Bahamas, and had just one year of formal schooling. He struggled against poverty, illiteracy and prejudice to become one of the first Black actors to be known and accepted in major roles by mainstream audiences.
The young actor got his first break when he met the casting director of the American Negro Theater. He was an understudy in “Days of Our Youth” and took over when the star, Belafonte, who also would become a pioneering Black actor, fell ill. “I must also pay thanks to an elderly Jewish waiter who took time to help a young Black dishwasher learn to read,” Poitier told the audience. “I cannot tell you his name. I never knew it. But I read pretty good now.”
My deepest Sympathy and condolences to Sydney's Family and friends. It is with a heavy heart that Sydney is engulfed by a dark cloud. Rest in Peace Sydney. Muya wa Sydney u edele nga mulalo.
God Rest His Soul.
Hollywood is so gullible you'd think more than 10 black actors would have won it by now, but only to find its just 4
How sad. A gentleman