Weeks beforeSidney Poitier’s death on Thursday, it was revealed that his trailblazing life is to be dramatized in an upcoming Broadway play.
Poitier died on Thursday at the age of 94, Clint Watson, the press secretary for the Prime Minister of the Bahamas, confirmed to PEOPLE.
The play will trace Poitier’s childhood on Cat Island in the Bahamas, his move to New York City and his budding acting career into his transformation as the first Black man to win an Oscar for Best Actor.
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The actor’s autobiographyThe Measure of a Manserves as the basis for the upcoming show.
Sidney Poitier.Stefanie Keenan/Getty
Santiago-Hudson added in his own statement, “Sir Sidney Poitier is clearly one of the greatest actors in the history of cinema. His integrity and standard of excellence set the bar for generations to come. It is an honor to be a part of celebrating the incomparable Sidney Poitier’s monumental career in this play but also the man and his extraordinary life.”
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Poitier was born two months premature in Miami in 1927, while his parents, Bahamian farmers Evelyn and Reginald Poitier, were in the country to sell tomatoes.
The actor went from washing dishes and trading his services as a janitor in exchange for acting classes to winning the Best Actor Academy Award — the first Black man to do so — in 1964 for his role inLilies of the Field, as Homer Smith, a handyman building a chapel in the desert.
Poitier leaves behind Joanna Shimkus as well as five daughters: Beverly, Pamela, Sherri, Anika and Sydney. His daughter Gina Poitier died in 2018.
source: people.com
