Sidney Poitier Wins Oscar: Breaking Hollywood's Color Barrier
Sidney Poitier won the Academy Award for Best Actor on April 13, 1964, for his role as Homer Smith in Lilies of the Field, becoming the first Black man to receive the honor. Hattie McDaniel had won Best Supporting Actress for Gone with the Wind in 1940, but no Black actor had won a leading role Oscar in the 24 years since. Poitier accepted the award from Anne Bancroft in a ceremony at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. His win came during the peak of the civil rights movement, just months before the Civil Rights Act was signed. No other Black actor would win Best Actor until Denzel Washington in 2002, a 38-year gap that exposed Hollywood's persistent failure to cast Black actors in leading dramatic roles.
April 13, 1964
62 years ago
Key Figures & Places
African-American
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Academy Awards
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Sidney Poitier
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Best Actor
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36th Academy Awards
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Sidney Poitier
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African American
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Academy Award for Best Actor
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Lilies of the Field (1963 film)
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Ralph Nelson
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12 avril
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1927
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Plutarco Elías Calles
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Academy Awards
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Moacyr Deriquém
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