What to Know
- Broadway theaters will dim their lights Wednesday in honor of trailblazing actor, director and cultural icon Sidney Poitier, who passed away earlier this month at the age of 94.
- The Committee of Theatre Owners will dim the lights of Broadway for one minute at exactly 7:45 p.m.
- Poitier died on Jan. 7, a source close to the family told NBC News Friday.
Broadway theaters will dim their lights Wednesday in honor of trailblazing actor, director and cultural icon Sidney Poitier, who passed away earlier this month at the age of 94.
The Committee of Theatre Owners will dim the lights of Broadway for one minute at exactly 7:45 p.m.
"Although Sidney Poitier’s brilliance shone on Broadway stages as a performer and director in just a small number of productions, his presence on Broadway was both titanic and influential," Charlotte St. Martin, President of The Broadway League, said in a statement. "I know that Broadway fans worldwide recognize the incredible impact Mr. Poitier had on our art form. He is a true icon and an inspiration to so very many."
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REMEMBERING SIDNEY POITIER
Poitier died on Jan. 7, a source close to the family told NBC News Friday.
In a trailblazing and remarkable film career that spanned more than seven decades, Poitier made history as the first Black man to win an Academy Award for best actor for his role in "Lilies in the Field."
Other classics throughout Poitier's seven-decade Hollywood career included roles in "Porgy and Bess," "A Raisin in the Sun," "Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” "To Sir, With Love," and “Uptown Saturday Night.”
Not only did he win an Oscar, but Poitier also earned a Tony Award nomination as Best Actor in a Play in 1960 for his portrayal of the iconic role of Walter Lee Younger in "A Raisin in the Sun." He went on to reprise the role in the 1961 film adaptation.
In 1968, after winning his Academy Award for Best Actor, Poitier returned to Broadway to direct "Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights" featuring Louis Gossett Jr., Diane Ladd and Cicely Tyson.
His cause of death was not immediately known.
