Sidney Poitier, the first Black actor to win an Oscar for a best acting performance, has died. He was 94. Poitier won the best actor Oscar in 1964 for Lilies of the Field. His performance changed how Blacks were presented in the movies. It also inspired a generation of actors during the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Before Poitier, most Black actors were only given supporting parts in the movies. Hollywood filmmakers rarely attempted to tell a Black person’s story. In 1967, Poitier was the leading actor in three Hollywood movies in the United States. In Guess Who's Coming to Dinner he played a Black doctor who wishes to marry a young white woman. In In the Heat of the Night he was Virgil Tibbs, a Black police officer dealing with racism during a murder investigation. He also played a teacher in a London school that year in To Sir, With Love.