Sidney Poitier Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Sidney Poitier, the trailblazing and iconic Black actor, director, civil rights activist and humanitarian, has died, Bahamian Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell has announced.

Sidney Poitier, the pioneering actor and director who became the first bankable Black leading man in Hollywood, has died at age 94, according to the Bahamian Minister of Foreign Affairs.Poitier, who was born in the U.S. but grew up in the Bahamas, broke multiple racial barriers in his decades-long career, including when he became the first Black actor to win the Academy Award, for his role in 1963’s “Lilies of the Field.”From his first film performance, playing a doctor who treats a bigoted white man in 1950’s “No Way Out,” he blazed a trail by refusing to play roles that traded on racial stereotypes.

told Variety. “Poitier has inspired many artists in multiple fields including encouraging Alice Childress to begin writing when they were both members at American Negro Theatre.”Poitier, 94, has built an illustrious career as a film icon and revered activist.

The life of actor and activist Sidney Poitier will be told in a Broadway-targeted play to be written by Charles Randolph-Wright and directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, producers announced today.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaFew stars shone as brightly as Sidney Poitier.In films like “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” and “In the Heat of the Night,” Poitier turned in powerful performances that electrified audiences.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film CriticMelvin Van Peebles, who died Sept. 21 at 89, was not the inventor of Black cinema, but it’s no exaggeration to say that he smashed open the door to Black cinema as we know it.

Every Tuesday, discriminating viewers are confronted with a flurry of choices: new releases on disc and on-demand, vintage and original movies on any number of streaming platforms, catalog titles making a splash on Blu-ray or 4K. This biweekly column sifts through all of those choices to pluck out the movies most worth your time, no matter how you’re watching.

Jonah Hill is joining the cast of a new comedy!

Angelique Jackson Oscar winner Viola Davis will receive the Icon Award from the African American Film Critics Assn. during the 12th annual AAFCA awards on April 7.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentSidney Poitier — who turns 94 on Feb. 20 — has received virtually every showbiz award possible: An Oscar, Grammy, Golden Globe, plus Life Achievement Awards from AFI, BAFTA, NAACP Image Awards, SAG and Kennedy Center Honors, to name a few.

Legendary actor Sidney Poitier has leant his name and reputation to Arizona State University's Sidney Poitier New American Film School amid plans to establish campuses in three cities across Arizona and California.

LOS ANGELES -- This year's inductees into the National Film Registry include a record number of female directors and filmmakers of color as well as a new crop of movies ranging from a silent short film thriller, classic musicals and an acclaimed Batman film.The Library of Congress announced Monday that films including “The Dark Knight,” “Suspense,” musicals “Grease” and “The Blues Brothers” along with Sidney Poitier’s Oscar-winning performance in “Lilies of the Field” are among the 25 movies

Andreas Wiseman International EditorEXCLUSIVE: Kino Lorber has acquired U.S.

Stand By Me at 15 which propelled him to become a household name.Next came a role in Peter Weir’s The Mosquito Coast in which he played the child of A-listers Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren, and the director earmarked him for stardom.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorEllis Haizlip was a trailblazer in the world of TV, pioneering the way with “Soul!,” a TV show that devoted itself to the African American experience, showcasing music, poetry and highlighting Black talent from 1968-1973 against the backdrop of a changing America and white establishment that was TV.Toni Morrison, Cicely Tyson and Sidney Poitier all appeared on late-night TV, as Haizlip provided a platform for these voices and exposing TV audiences to Black

Variety, published as “Dr. No” was taking cinemas by storm, Army Archerd noted that Connery, who was feted at a Directors Guild screening of the film and a ‘feed’ at the legendary eatery Chasen’s…”was only a coupla years ago hitching rides on Hollywood Blvd.

Tributes have been paid to screen “pioneer” Earl Cameron, one of the first black actors to make it in British cinema.

Anthony James, the lanky actor who frequently appeared as bad guys in films such as “In the Heat of the Night” and “Unforgiven,” has died at 77. James died of cancer on May 26, according to an obituary announcement from a funeral home in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

By Erik Pedersen