Person · 1927–2022
Sidney Poitier
The first Black man to win the Academy Award for Best Actor (1964), who insisted on roles of dignity.
A breakthrough figure of [[black-film]].
Sidney Poitier refused to play the demeaning parts Hollywood offered Black actors, and his stardom in films like "Lilies of the Field" and "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" reshaped what was possible on screen. He later became a pioneering Black director.