death of Sydney Poitier, icon of the seventh art and inspirer of a generation of African-American actors

That day, he became a Hollywood legend (United States) and became the hero of many African-American men and women: at 37, Sidney Poitier is the first black man to receive the Oscar for best actor. An exemplary journey for this farmer’s son, born in 1927 in segregated America. It is in darker roles that he illustrates himself, as in the film “In the heat of the night”, where he plays the role of a policeman confronted with a racist sheriff.

Fiction quickly joins reality, for him who engages in the defense of civil rights, from the start of his career. “We have a lot of African American actors today, but when there were none, that’s where I appeared on screen.“, he said. 42 years later, it is decorated by a black president, Barack Obama. He presented him with the Medal of Freedom, the highest American honor. In France, he was made Commander of Arts and Letters in 2006.