Groundbreaking Actor Sidney Poitier Has Passed Away at the Age of 94
It is with a heavy heart that we here at MickeyBlog share the news that Hollywood Legend Sidney Poitier has passed away at the age of 94. According to reports, Poitier passed away yesterday (January 6, 2022) in the Bahamas.
Poitier was an industry icon breaking ground as the first African American actor to be nominated for an Academy Award for 1958’s The Defiant Ones and to win an Academy Award for his role in Lilies of the Field.
His most memorable roles include 1967’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner which depicted an interracial couple at a time when, as USA Today tells us, a handful of states STILL had laws prohibiting interracial marriage.
Over the years Poitier has received many accolades including receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009 and he was also knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1974 and in 2021 the Academy Museum for Motion Pictures named their new 10,000 square food lobby after him.
Poitier was born on February 20, 1927 to Bahamian tomato farmers who came to the US to cell crops. He was raised on Cat Island in the Bahamas but moved to New York City when he was 16. He started his career with the American Negro Theater and five years later would go on to star in his first feature film No Way Out about a doctor confronted with racism by a white patient he is working to save.
This role was following by other noteworthy turns in To Sir, With Love and In the Heat of the Night.
In Disney circles, Sidney Poitier was also named to the Disney board of directors on November 22, 1994, filling the vacancy left by Frank Wells. This is a position that he would hold until March 19, 2003.
Poitier had four daughters with his first wife, Juanita Hardy: Beverly, Pamela, Sherri and Gina. He later married actress Joanna Shimkus in 1976 and had two more daughters Anika and Sydney.
Our deepest condolences go out to Sidney’s family, friends and colleagues.