“Sidney Poitier — who broke racial barriers as the first black winner of the best actor Oscar and inspired a generation during the civil rights movement — has died aged 94.

“The actor’s death was confirmed by Eugene Torchon-Newry, acting director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Bahamas, where Poitier was raised.

“Poitier created a distinguished film legacy with three films in 1967 at a time when segregation prevailed in much of the United States.

“In Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner he played a black man with a white fiancee and In the Heat of the Night he was Virgil Tibbs, a black police officer confronting racism during a murder investigation.

“He also played a teacher in a tough London school that year in To Sir, With Love.”

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