Sidney Poitier, the Bahamian – American actor who broke numerous barriers in Hollywood in the 1950s and 60s, has died at the age of 94. During his extensive career, Poitier was the first more than once. He was the first Black man to win an international film award at the Venice Film Festival in 1957. He was also the first to receive a nomination for Best Actor at the Academy Awards in 1958, which he won for “Lillies in the Field.” At that time, Poitier said that he felt a sense of responsibility to himself and the people he represented.

Poitier was also known for pushing against the conventional roles of Black men in Hollywood at the time. In 1961’s “Paris Blues,” he played the first Black romantic lead in a major picture. In perhaps his most known role, with Katharine Houghton, he portrayed the first positive depiction of an interracial couple in 1967’s “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.” The following year, he became the first Black man to be named Hollywood’s top box office star. For 1969’s “The Lost Man,” he demanded that half of the film crew be Black, which had never been done before. He also appeared in the first film to take a stance on apartheid in 1975.

Poitier’s activism extended past the screen as well. In 1963, he attended the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Dr. Martin Luther King gave his “I Have A Dream” speech. He would return to Washington, D.C. in 1968 for the Poor People’s Campaign, an event partly organized by Dr. King before his assassination. Despite the barriers he broke for Black actors, some felt that Poitier only chose safe roles that made white people feel comfortable instead of parts that directly confronted racial prejudice. It wasn’t until the release of his autobiography that Poitier revealed the anger he fought to keep hidden during the early years of his career.

Poitier was born two months premature on February 20, 1927, in Miami, where his parents were vacationing at the time. He was the youngest of seven children, and the family didn’t have much money. Poitier’s father was a tomato farmer, and by the time he was 13, Pointier worked with him full time. When he was 15, his parents sent him on a boat to the United States for a better life. Poitier’s father told him to take care of himself and gave him three dollars. At 16, Poitier found himself in New York City, where he lied about his age to join the Army in World War II. When he got back, he saw an ad calling for actors for the American Negro Theater that piqued his interest in the paper.

From the point after his audition, his career quickly blossomed. By the time he was 19, in 1946, he was on Broadway in the all-black production of “Lysistrata.” By 23, he had made it to Hollywood with the 1950 noir film “No Way Out.” Later on in his career, Poitier would be handed countless honors. In 1997, he was named the ambassador to Japan for the Bahamas. His accolades also include an honorary award at the 2001 Oscars and a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. Poitier is survived by his wife, Joanna Shimkus, and five of his six children, Beverly, Pamela, Sherri, Anika, and Sydney Tamiia. His daughter Gina Poitier died in 2018.