Bahamian film star Sidney Poitier was honoured at last night’s Film Society of Lincoln Center gala. Numerous celebrities were on hand to celebrate with the 38th annual Charlie Chaplin award recipient. Poitier was the first black person to win an Oscar for best actor, for his role in the 1963 movie “Lilies of the Field.”
Poitier garnered leading roles in films at a time when black actors were usually relegated to submissive or demeaning parts. During the presentation, presenter Quentin Tarantino recounted the time he asked Poitier why he had never starred in “colored films” — or movies that were created primarily for a black audience. Poitier responded that his first role was “a doctor… in a 20th Century Fox film… directed by Joseph Mankiewicz, so there was simply no need.”
