(CNN) — Sidney Poitier, whose elegant bearing and principled onscreen characters made him Hollywood’s first Black movie star and the first Black man to win the best actor Oscar, has died. “He said, ‘take care of yourself, son.’ And he turned me around to face the boat,” Poitier told NPR in 2009. With that 1958 film, Poitier became the first Black man to be nominated for an Oscar. There was almost no frame of reference for us except as stereotypical, one-dimensional characters,” Poitier told Winfrey. … I was the most successful Black actor in the history of the country,” Poitier told Winfrey.

Source: CNN January 07, 2022 18:14 UTC