Remembering Sidney Poitier's Best Moments

1 When He Became the First Black Man to Win an Oscar For Best Actor

Sidney picked up his first best actor Oscar nomination in 1959 for his performance in The Defiant Ones, starring opposite Tony Curtis. Five years later, his best actor nomination turned into a win for his role in Lilies of the Field — making him the first Black man in Hollywood to achieve such a feat.

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2 When He Returned the Slap Heard Around the World

One of Sidney's most iconic roles was playing Detective Virgil Tibbs in Norman Jewison's In the Heat of the Night. In one particular scene, his character questions Eric Endicott (played by Larry Gates) — a white man — while investigating a murder, and in defencive fashion, the man slaps Tibbs for daring to interrogate him. However, instead of walking away from the slap like his character was intended to, Sidney returns the blow — something that was unheard of from a Black actor at that time.

With that scene, Sidney made history and a statement about himself as well as Black humanity. "I said to [producer Walter Mirisch], in my life, whether I'm a detective or not, and I don't care where I am, if such a thing happened to me, the likelihood is I would respond,'" he recalled in an interview. "And my response would certainly not be to absorb it."

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3 When Denzel Washington Gave Him an Honourary Oscar at the 74th Academy Awards

Image Source: Getty / TIMOTHY A. CLARY

Decades after winning his historical Oscar, Sidney was graced with another Oscar for his groundbreaking legacy as a film star. At the 2002 Oscars, Denzel Washington — who regards Sidney as his dear friend — presented the legendary actor with an honourary Oscar to celebrate his "remarkable accomplishments as an artist and as a human being."

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4 When He Reflected on His Rich Legacy at the 2002 Oscars

Sidney's legacy has always been celebrated throughout his life, but the actor himself had a chance to look back on everything he accomplished in his career when he received that honourary Oscar in 2002.

"I arrived in Hollywood at the age of 22 in a time different than today's," he said in his speech. "A time in which the odds against my standing here tonight 53 years later would not have fallen in my favour. Back then, no route had been established for where I was hoping to go, no pathway left in evidence for me to trace, no custom for me to follow. Yet, here I am this evening at the end of a journey that in 1949 would have been considered almost impossible and in fact might never have been set in motion were there not an untold number of courageous, unselfish choices made by a handful of visionary American filmmakers, directors, writers and producers."

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5 When Barack Obama Presented Him With the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Image Source: Getty / Chip Somodevilla

Former President Barack Obama awarded Sidney with the Presidential Medal of Freedom during his first term at The White House in 2009. Sidney's medal was the highest civilian honour, celebrating him for his artistic and humanitarian achievements, through which he broke barriers both on and off the silver screen.

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6 When He Shared How He Overcame Racial Dogma Before Becoming a Film Star

Sidney appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show when the daytime talk show was still on the air. During his appearance, he explained to Oprah how he overcame the racial prejudices of the South and came to understand who he was as a Black man and a human being, despite his circumstances. "Before I got to Florida, I had the opportunity, through my mother and my dad, to have set some kind of foundation as to who I was," he said in his interview. "And I was not what I was required to be in Florida . . . I was taught that I had basic rights as a human being. I was taught that I was someone."

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