Sir Sydney Poitier

Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE born February 20, 1927, is a Bahamian-
American actor, film director, author and diplomat.
In 1964,Poitier became the first black person to win an
Academy Award for Best Actor,for his role in Lilies of the Field.
The significance of this achievement was later bolstered in
1967 when he starred in three successful films, all
of which dealt with issues involving race: To Sir,
with Love; In the Heat of the Night; and Guess
Who’s Coming to Dinner, making him the top
box-office star of that year.
In 1999, the American Film Institute named
Poitier among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time,
ranking 22nd on the list of 25.
Poitier has directed a number of popular movies, such
as A Piece of the Action, Uptown Saturday Night, Let’s
Do It Again, (with friend Bill Cosby), Stir Crazy (starring
Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder) and Ghost Dad (also
with Cosby). In 2002, thirty-eight years after receiving the
Best Actor Award, Poitier was chosen by the Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to receive an Honorary
Award, designated “To Sidney Poitier in recognition
of his remarkable accomplishments as an artist and
as a human being.” Since 1997, he has been the Bahamian
ambassador to Japan. On August 12, 2009, Sidney Poitier was
awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States
of America’s highest civilian honor, by President Barack Obama.