Sidney Poitier dies at 94: The trailblazing actor's career in photos

Poitier's legacy in film history is that of an icon: Many of his most memorable roles dealt with race in mainstream Hollywood films before others optedto do so. One biographer dubbed him the "Martin Luther King of the movies."

Here, Poitier stars in the 1955 film "Blackboard Jungle" as Gregory Miller, a student at an interracial inner-city school.

Among his long list of accolades, Poitier became the first African-American actor to be nominated for an Academy Award for best actor for "The Defiant Ones" in 1958. In the film, Tony Curtis and Poitier play escaped prisoners who are chained together. (Poitier did not win.)

Ruby Dee and Poitier in the 1961 film "Raisin in the Sun.

Poitier became the first Black man to win an Oscar for best actor for "Lilies of the Field" at the 36th Annual Academy Awards on April 13, 1964.

In 1963's "Lilies of the Field," Poitier plays handyman Homer Smith opposite Lilia Skala as Mother Maria.

In 1967, Poitier, Kathryn Houghton and Katharine Hepburn star in the film "Guess Who's coming to Dinner," directed by Stanley Kramer.

The 1967 film "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," in which Poitier starred in as the love interest opposite Houghton, offered a positive depiction of interracial couples during a time when more than a handful of states still had laws prohibiting interracial marriage. 

Poitier also starred in "To Sir, with Love" in 1967. his character, Mark Thackeray, takes a job as a teacher in a rough part of London, working hard to win over his students' respect. Over the years, Poitier  built up a reputation for playing gentle, kind and smart characters.

Breaking into a frug, actor Sidney Poitier releases tension during a break in filming of "In the Heat of the Night" on location in Tennessee, April 11, 1967. He says the role is one of the most intense he has ever played, and this is his way of keeping up.

In the 1967 film "In the Heat of the Night," Poitier plays a Philadelphia police detective investigating a murder committed in Mississippi opposite Lee Grant's as Mrs. Colbert.

Poitier stars in and directs 1972's "Buck and the Preacher.

The founding members of First Artists: Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, Barbra Streisand and Sidney Poitier. The group were the producers of 1972's "The Getaway." It was one of the only First Artists films to make money.

Poitier had four daughters with his first wife, Juanita Hardy: Beverly, Pamela, Sherri and Gina. The couple divorced after five years of marriage. Poitier later married Canadian-born actress  Joanna Shimkus in 1976 and had two more daughters, Anika and Sydney. 

Here, Poitier carries Anika, 2, as Shimkus wheels their six-month-old daughter Sydney at London's Heathrow Airport on May 9, 1974.

On Aug. 26, 1981, director Sidney Poitier talks with his "Traces" stars Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner on location at the Commonwealth Pier in Boston.

Poitier and Shimkus on June 25, 1983, during the Monte-Carlo ATP Masters Series Tournament tennis match.

Hugh Hefner, left, former Chicago Mayor Harold Washington and Poitier at the Playboy West Mansion on March 20, 1983.

Poitier, 61, during an interview in Los Angeles on March 14, 1988, where he talked about his 10-year absence from film acting. "At 50," he said, "I decided to see what life was really like outside of the narrow corridor of work. It was wonderful."

The American Museum of the Moving Image, which was mounting a retrospective of Poitier's movies, presented the actor (with his daughter Pamela) an award during a star-studded tribute Feb. 28, 1989.

The actor checks his shot during the Frank Sinatra Celebrity Open in Palm Springs, Calif., on March 5, 1993.

Actor Sidney Poitier responds to the crowd after being awarded an honorary degree by New York University during graduation ceremonies in New York on Thursday, May 18, 1995.

The 1995 Kennedy Center Honors recipients share a laugh after a State Department dinner in Washington Dec. 2, 1995. From left: singer Marilyn Horne, playwright Neil Simon, Poitier, dancer Jacques d'Amboise and guitarist B.B. King.

President Bill Clinton applauds as First Lady Hillary Clinton shakes hands with US actor Sidney Poitier on Dec. 3, 1995 at a reception at the White House in Washington. From left: dancer Jacques d'Amboise, opera star Marilyn Horne, musician B.B. King, Poitier and playwright Neil Simon. They were later awarded Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime achievement in the arts.

Poitier stars as Gypsy Smith in the 1995 miniseries "Children of the Dust."

Poitier presents an award at the 68th Annual Academy Awards in March 1996.

In 1996's "To Sir With Love II, " Sidney Poitier reprises his roles as Mark Thackeray.

Poitier stars as Mandela alongside Michael Caine, who plays former President F.W. de Klerk, in Showtime's 1997 drama "Mandela and de Klerk." The film tells the story of South Africa's transition from a white minority government to black majority rule.

Here, South African President Nelson Mandela and Poitier attend a news conference in Cape Town on May 17, 1996.

Actor Sidney Poitier talks with Dorothy Height of the National Negro Women's Council during a reception before the Washington premier of the film "Mandela and de Klerk" on Feb. 12, 1997, at the Kennedy Center.

Imperial Palace Master of Ceremony Noriaki Owada ushers Poitier into the palace in Tokyo on April 16, 1997, so the actor, the Bahamas' ambassador to Japan, can present credentials to Emperor Akihito. Born in the U.S. but a citizen of the Bahamas, Poitier was appointed as the Caribbean island's Japanese ambassador in November 1995. A Japanese official said the lengthy delay between his appointment and meeting the emperor was caused by the lack of a Bahamas embassy in Tokyo.

Allison Janney, Lukas Haas and Sidney Poitier in "David and Lisa" on ABC in 1998.

Poitier and daughter Sydney Tamiia star in the 1999 Showtime movie "Free of Eden."

Though it would be nice to say that Poitier's Oscar win brought down barriers, at least to some extent, it would be 38 years before another Black actor won a best-actor Oscar: Denzel Washington, for his turn as a bad cop in 2001's Training Day.

Here, Poitier and Washington pose for USA TODAY in March 2000.

During his acceptance speech, Washington said he's been "chasing Sidney" fo forty years. 

"What do they do? They give (an award) to him the same night. I'll always be chasing you, Sidney," Washington said as the two saluted each other with their respectful respective Oscars. "I'll always be following in your footsteps. There's nothing I'd rather do, sir." 

Here,  Washington and Poitier embrace during the 74th annual Academy Awards in 2002.

At the 32nd Annual NAACP Image Awards March 3, 2001: Poitier, his wife, Joanna Shimkus, and their daughter, Sydney.

The NAACP gave Poitier its Hall of Fame Award in 2001.

Poitier is "OK" with his honorary Oscar at the 74th annual Academy Awards on March 24, 2002.

When presenting Poitier with an honorary Oscar at the 2002 Academy Awards, Denzel Washington said: "Before Sidney, African-American actors had to take supporting roles in major studio films that were easy to cut out in certain parts of the country. But you couldn't cut Sidney Poitier out of a Sidney Poitier picture. He was the reason a movie got made: the first solo, above-the-title African-American movie star." 

Poitier with Halle Berry during a mock presentation at the 2006 British Academy of Film and Television Arts / Los Angeles Cunard Britannia Awards on Nov. 2, 2006.

At the awards in LA., Poitier received the Cunard Britannia Award for Lifetime Contributions to International Film and actor/director Clint Eastwood received the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film.

President Barack Obama awards him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. The American Film Institute also included Poitier on 1999 list of greatest male Hollywood stars, Queen Elizabeth II knighted him in 1974.

On June 9, 2011, Poitier is in the audience to celebrate the 39th AFI Life Achievement Award honoring his friend Morgan Freeman.

Poitier and Harry Belafonte present at the 43rd NAACP Image Awards on Feb. 17, 2012 in Los Angeles.

Cicely Tyson is surrounded by stars at the 43rd NAACP Image Awards on Feb. 17, 2012, in Los Angeles: from left, Harry Belafonte, Laurence Fishburne and Poitier.

Poitier, right, presents Harry Belafonte with the Spingarn Medal at the 44th Annual NAACP Image Awards on Friday, Feb. 1, 2013.

Poitier wrote three autobiographical books: The last of which, published in 2008, was a series of letters filled with his own life lessons, written to one of his great-granddaughters, Ayele. He also published his novel "Montaro Caine" in 2013.

Sidney Poitier and daughter Sydney Tamiia Poitier arrives at the 86th annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in March 2014.

Poitier attends the Brigitte and Bobby Sherman Children's Foundation's 6th Annual Christmas Gala and Fundraiser at Montage Beverly Hills on Dec. 19, 2015.