i was saying to an audience, this is who i am, look at me. more controversial was his role as a highly gifted, hugely successful doctor engaged to a white woman in guess who s coming to dinner. i love your daughter. there is nothing i wouldn t do to try to keep her as happy as she was the day i met her. some criticised it, saying the impression it gave was of an interracial relationship that was only acceptable because his character was so perfect and accomplished. he also directed 80s comedy stir crazy, the first movie from an african american film maker to pass the blockbuster $100 million mark in the united states. what are you doing? i m getting bad! in his later years, he was awarded the presidential medal of freedom by barack obama, who today said sidney poitier epitomised dignity and grace. oprah winfrey paid tribute, saying, my honour to have loved him.
maybe i ll get down on my black knees. all right, mr charlie. all right, mr great white father. you just give us that money! and we won t come out there and dirty up your white folks neighbourhood. the era, of course, meant he had a burden his white counterparts rarely had to carry the weight of being a symbol. but he bore it with dignity. in lilies of the field, playing a travelling handyman, helping build a group of nuns a new chapel. the winner is sidney poitier. he won the academy award, the first black performer ever to receive the oscar for a leading role. in the years that followed, he became hollywood s biggest star, redefining how audiences saw black characters with films like to sir, with love. you will call me sir or mr thackeray. the young ladies will be addressed as miss, the boys by their surnames. some of what i am was reflected in those movies. it was, in a way,
energyjust so dynamic, you know, the energy just wafted off of so dynamic, you know, the energyjust wafted off of him. and when he would see me, certainly with others as well, but when he would see me, he would cluster his hands together and grinning from ear together and grinning from ear to ear. it would always lift you, no matter how good you might be feeling for the day. most people remember him as an actor but he was an activist, a director, he had his own production company. there was a much more to him thanjust acting. much more to him than ust actina. ~ , , much more to him than ust actina. , much more to him than ust actina. , ~ , acting. absolutely. and it is with that acting. absolutely. and it is with that legacy acting. absolutely. and it is with that legacy that - acting. absolutely. and it is with that legacy that we - acting. absolutely. and it is with that legacy that we are j with that legacy that we are going to move forward and make sure that that legacy st
vaccine entry requirements. and this letter had no surname or address on the envelope just a short biography. but amazingly, it made it to the right person. hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. one of the best known black hollywood actors of the past century, sidney poitier, has died. he was 94. he was the first black man to win an oscar for best actor, and his success paved the way for generations of other black artists. his films, including in the heat of the night and guess who s coming to dinner, reflected an america struggling with issues of racism and prejudice at the height of the civil rights movement. his impact ultimately,
change the picture again. the actor sidney poitier, whose pioneering films in the 19505 and 60s shone a light on racism and social predjudice, has died. he was 94. he was the first black man to win an oscar for best actor, and his ground breaking work paved the way for generations of other black artists. our correspondent lizo mzimba looks back on the life of a hollywood icon. # in the heat of the night. sidney poitier s virgil tibbs, a man of authority. i m a police officer. ..intelligence and a steely determination never to back down. the kind of qualities that defined poitier on screen and off. he made his cinema debut playing a doctor, a man of status, something almost unheard of for black performers then. and with roles like an escaped convict in the defiant ones and a struggling husband in a raisin in the sun, he tackled prejudice head on.