Los Angeles: Sidney Poitier, the first Black man to win best actor Oscar for his role in “Lilies of the Field” and acted in a string of films that portrayed segregation in the US, passed away on Friday at age 94.
Picking his roles carefully, Poiter successfully changed the old Hollywood notion that Black actors could only play shoeshine boys, train conductors and maids in films.
Some of his best roles, according to The Hollywood Reporter:
No Way Out (1950)
His first feature film. It depicted racial tensions between Blacks and whites. Poitier plays a Black doctor at an urban hospital.
The Defiant Ones (1958)
Poitier plays a prisoner who’s shackled together with a white convict (Tony Curtis).
A Raisin In The Sun (1961)
The film is on an African-American family’s quest to live a better life.
Lilies Of The Field (1963)
He won the best actor Oscar for the film. Poiter plays a handyman who helps German nuns build a chapel in the desert.
A Patch Of Blue (1965)
The film is about a relationship between a Black man (Poitier) and a blind white woman (Elizabeth Hartman).
To Sir, With Love (1967)
Poitier plays a teacher at a tough London school, where he eventually gains the respect of the students.
In The Heat Of The Night (1967)
Poitier plays a Black police officer investigating a murder in a racially hostile town.
Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner (1967)
Poitier plays a doctor in a relationship with a white woman, at a time when interracial marriage was banned in over a dozen states.
Mandela And De Klerk (1997)
Poitier played South African President Nelson Mandela. The movie depicts the efforts of Mandela and F W de Klerk (Michael Caine) to end apartheid in South Africa.
The Last Brickmaker In America (2001)
Poitier’s last acting role. The actor portrays a man who deals with the loss of his wife and the obsolescence of his job before becoming a role model to a 13-year-old.
