Hollywood legend Sidney Poitier dies at 94

Actor Sidney Poitier has died at the age of 94, Bahamas Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell has reported. Poitier was a Banana-American. He was born in 1927 in Miami, Florida. Actor, activist and director, he became the first black man to receive an Oscar, in 1964 for

He was one of Hollywood's greatest performers with movies like

,

and

. Chester Cooper, Deputy Prime Minister of the Bahamas, said on his official Facebook that Poitier was "an icon, a hero, a mentor, a fighter and a national treasure."

Poitier was the first black actor in many things. He was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in 1959 for 

, but didn't get the coveted statuette until 1964 thanks to his performance in 

. Now accustomed to protest speeches in this type of ceremony, his was concise. He gave thanks for the award, named a few people, including the film's director and screenwriter, smiled excitedly, and left.

But that moment was historic for African Americans. An inspiration for host Oprah Winfrey, then 10 years old. “In 1964 I was a little girl sitting on the floor of my mother's house in Milwaukee watching Anne Bancroft present the Oscar for Best Actor [...]. The most elegant man I have ever remembered took the stage. His tie was white, his skin was black, and they were celebrating. I have never seen a black man being celebrated like this, ”said the journalist at the 2018 Golden Globes.

The characters that Poitier incarnated were not in accordance with the white public, with simple mentalities and being helpful and obedient. Far from that, he came to the movies to change the perception of other races in an industry dominated by whites. “The type of black that appeared on the screen was always negative, buffoons, clowns, butlers, true outcasts. This was the context when I arrived 20 years ago and chose not to be part of the stereotypes ... I want when people leave the cinema to feel that the lives of human beings are important. This is my only philosophy about the films I make, ”he explained during an interview in 1967.

Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte were almost killed by the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi, so when Poitier starred in

in 1966 he refused to film in natural settings and the American South recreated in Illinois.

Because it is to that white supremacist south that a black policeman is sent to investigate a racist crime in this film, one of the most famous in Poitier.

Since they did not find a cotton plantation in the north, the team filmed for a few days in Tennessee: Poitier slept there with a gun under his pillow.

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