Sidney Poitier – 94

In 1963, Sidney Poitier made the film Lilies of the Field in Arizona. The performance led to a major milestone: he became the first Black winner of Best Actor at the Academy Awards. This was a very important accomplishment in the 1960s, when discrimination was rampant in the United States.

Today, Arizona is the site for another achievement for the retired actor and filmmaker. Arizona State University named its new film school after him. The Sidney Poitier New American Film School was unveiled in February. The decision to name a school after Poitier, 93, is “something more than an emphasis on diversity”, the president of the university, Michael M. Crow, said. It is his creative spirit, his dynamism, his determination, his ambition, the kind of projects he focused on, and the way he progressed his life even without a college degree.