Hollywood legend Sir Sidney Poitier has died aged 94.
The beloved actor death, who had an incredible 71-year career, was confirmed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell, according to Eyewitness News Bahamas.
Speaking about his death, Mitchell said:
“We’ve lost a great a Bahamian and I’ve lost a personal friend.”
Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper added to Guardian Nassau:
“Sadness that he would no longer be here to tell him how much he means to us, but celebration that he did so much to show the world that those from the humblest beginnings can change the world and that we gave him his flowers while he was with us.”
His cause of death is not yet known.
The actor, activist, director and ambassador became the first Black man to be awarded Best Actor at the Academy Awards in 1964 for Lilies of the Field. He was the oldest living man to have won Best Actor.
His trailblazing acting career saw him earn two further Academy Award nominations, ten Golden Globes nominations, two Primetime Emmy Awards nominations, six BAFTA nominations, eight Laurel nominations, and one Screen Actors Guild Awards nomination.
In 2016, Poitier was awarded a BAFTA fellowship, but did not attend the event due to ill health.
Poitier received the Kennedy Center Honor in 1995 and an received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama in 2009.
He was also awarded an Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1974.
No Time To Die actor Jeffrey Wright paid tribute, writing: “What a landmark actor. One of a kind. What a beautiful, gracious, warm, genuinely regal man. RIP, Sir. With love.
Sidney also published several autobiographies during his career – This Life, The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography (2007) and Life Beyond Measure: Letters to My Great-Granddaughter (2008).
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