Sir Sidney Poitier, the first black actor to win an Oscar dies at 94

Sidney Poitier, the first black actor to win an Oscar and help break down the color barrier in Hollywood, has died. He was 94 years old.

Bahamian Deputy  Prime Minister Chester Cooper told ABC News he was “conflicted with great sadness and a sense of celebration when I learned of the passing of Sir Sidney Poitier.”

“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,” he said.

Poitier became the first Black man to win an Academy Award for best actor in 1964 for his role in “Lilies of the Field.” He was perhaps best known for his role as a Black doctor engaged to a white woman in 1967’s “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” in which he starred opposite Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy.