Tributes from all over the globe as poured in since the announcement of the death of Hollywood legend, Sidney Poitier.
The first Black man to win an Oscar had passed away yesterday January 7, 2021 at the age of 94.
The Bahamanian thespian death was announced by the Foreign Affairs Minister of Bahamas, Fred Mitchell.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Nigerian Artiste, Rema Gains Admission Into Unilag
Here are 10 things you probably don’t know about the late Hollywood star:
1. After his parents unexpectedly visited Miami in February 1927, Bahamas-born Poitier was automatically granted US citizenship.
2. He is best known for his roles in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, In the Heat of the Night, and Lilies of the Field, the latter of which earned him his first Academy Award for Best Actor. for which he became the first Black and Bahamian man to win a Best Actor Oscar.
3. The star actor spent most of earlier year in the Bahamas but moved to America when he was 15.
4. He served in the Second World War as a teenager although he lied about his age.
5. Few years later, he left the army and worked as a dishwasher.
6. Luckily, he landed a place at the American Negro Theatre School of Drama.
7. Poitier scored his first lead film role in 1955’s Blackboard Jungle.
8. Three years later, his first experience of awards recognition came with The Defiant Ones (1958), which saw him nominated for Best Actor alongside co-star Tony Curtis.
9. In 1967 he won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in Lilies of the Field.
10. In 2001, Poitier became the second Black man to win Best Actor for film, Training Day.
