the field handyman homer smith. >> lots of luck. >> yeah, you. >> reporter: the role that won him the first ever lead actor award for an african-american. >> it is a long journey. >> reporter: he moved 0 harlem as a teenager and endured the hard climb. then "no way out" in the 1950s film about racism. >> you watch yourself, black boy. >> just shut up. >> reporter: he played a doctor. in a performance so performance the film credited with ending british colonial role in the bahamas. hollywood has the first african-american screen star. >> go ahead and say it. >> reporter: a first to later point out too long in coming. >> if we are 40 million americans, we certainly ought to have more than one movie star.