Remembering trailblazing actor SIDNEY POITIER

Photo credit: REUTERS/Danny Moloshok

The first Black man to win an Academy Award for Best Actor, Sidney Poitier, has sadly died at the age of 94.

Poitier won an Oscar for his performance in the 1963 film, Lilies of the Field.

Growing up in the Bahamas, he moved to New York aged 16 and became a star of stage and screen in the 1950s and 60s.

The trailblazing actor broke racial barriers in Hollywood, with his first Oscar nomination for The Defiant Ones in 1958 - a historic achievement for a black man in a lead category at the time.

He appeared on our screens during a time of racial segregation in the US, appearing in the 1965 film Patch of Blue, followed by Heat of the Night in 1966, and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.

Poitier received a knighthood from the Queen in 1974 and was the first Black actor to receive a lifetime achievement award from the American Film Institute in 1992.

A Broadway play about his life and career was announced last month.

Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this difficult time.