Legendary actor Sidney Poitier’s cause of death has been revealed following the star’s passing on January 6 at the age of 94.
Poitier passed away from a combination of heart failure, Alzheimer’s dementia, and prostate cancer, according to his death certificate, TMZ reported on Tuesday.
The death certificate also noted the Academy Award-winning actor died in his home in Beverly Hills after his more than 70 year Hollywood career.
Beloved actor Sidney Poitier died from a combination of heart failure, Alzheimer's dementia and prostate cancer … according to his death certificate. https://t.co/sUYdVzy2Ym
— TMZ (@TMZ) January 18, 2022
Poitier was the first black man to win an Academy Award for the Best Actor for his role in the 1963 film “Lilies of the Field.”
The Bahamian-born actor’s death was confirmed in a touching press conference from Prime Minister of the Bahamas Philip Davis earlier in January.
“We admire the man not just because of his colossal achievements but also because of who he was: his strength of character, his willingness to stand up and be counted, and the way he plotted and navigated his life’s journey,” Davis shared during a press conference after the legendary actor’s death.
“We know the world mourns with us,” the prime minister added. “Sidney’s light will continue to shine brightly at generations to come.”
David noted the Bahamian flag would be flown at half-mast in the Bahamas and at embassies worldwide in honor of Poitier.
His daughter Sydney also expressed her thoughts in an emotional tribute on Instagram.
“There are no words for this. No real way to prepare for this. No prose beautiful enough, no speech eloquent enough to capture the essence of my dad,” she wrote, adding that his accomplishments “quite literally changed the landscape for everyone who came after him.”
“We know how graceful and wise he was. How powerful his strength of character and moral fortitude. But what I really want people to know is how GOOD he was,” she continued.
“I know people know he was good, but I don’t think they know the depth of his goodness. That it permeated every cell of his being. The sort of goodness that prevented him from killing even the tiniest of bugs,” Sydney wrote.
The actor was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1993 but overcame it after a successful surgical operation, according to Page Six.
Poitier is survived by his wife of 46 years, Joanna Shimkus Poitier.
The Daily Wire previously reported about Poitier’s impact:
He broke barriers for black actors with his first Academy Award nomination in 1959, starring alongside Tony Curtis in “The Defiant Ones,” and made history in 1964 when he won “Best Actor” for his portrayal of a handyman who helps a group of German immigrant nuns restore their chapel in “Lilies of the Field.”
In 1967, theater owners named him the number one movie star — a first for a black performer.
Denzel Washington summed up Poitier’s impact in his own 2002 Oscar acceptance speech, saying, “Before Sidney, African-American actors had to take supporting roles in major studio films that were easy to cut out in certain parts of the country. But you couldn’t cut Sidney Poitier out of a Sidney Poitier picture. He was the reason a movie got made; the first solo, above-the-title, African-American movie star.”
