Hollywood legend Sir Sidney Poitier has died

Sir Sidney Poitier, the first black actor to win a best actor Academy Award, has died.

Poitier was 94 years old.

NBC’s Mark Barger looks at his incredible 71-year career.

In what is maybe his most memorable line from an iconic career, spanning more than half a century, that made Sidney Poitier one of Hollywood’s most revered actors.

Born in Miami, but raised in the Bahamas, Poitier moved back to the U.S. as a teenager.

His big screen debut came in “No Way Out” in 1950. It launched a series of roles note for their cultural impact, during a time when America started confronting racial divisions.

Starring opposite Tony Curtis in “The Defiant Ones,” Poitier was nominated for his first Academy Award in 1958.

Six years later, he made history, becoming the first Black Academy Award winner for best actor in “Lillies of the Field.”

More iconic roles followed, playing Virgil Tibbs in “In The Heat of the Night,” a sophisticated big city detective investigating a murder in the rural South.

Other landmark roles in the Sixties shined a light on racial inequality, including “A Raisin In The Sun” and the ground-breaking “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner” starring opposite Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.

Poitier showed his versatility in Hollywood as well, acting in comedies and directing nearly a dozen movies, including “Stir Crazy” with Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder.

He also served a Bahamian Ambassador to Japan from 1997 to 2007.

In 2009, President Obama awarded Poitier the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.