Academy Museum Of Motion Pictures Names Lobby After Actor Sidney Poitier
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures announced Monday it will name its 10,000-square-foot grand lobby in honor of legendary actor Sidney Poitier.
"It is an incredible honor to name our grand lobby -- the nucleus of the Academy Museum -- in celebration of Sir Sidney Poitier, whose legacy of humanitarian efforts and groundbreaking artistry continues to inspire us all," Bill Kramer, the museum's director and president, said in a statement.
"We are deeply thankful to everyone who supported this campaign, and to Sidney, his wife Joanna Shimkus Poitier, and their entire family for allowing us this great privilege."
The 94-year-old broke the color barrier for men at the Academy Awards when he won an Oscar for his lead performance in "Lilies of the Field" in 1963.
Poitier also received an Academy Honorary Award in 2001, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1974 and is the recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor and a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
"Sidney's tremendous impact on the motion picture industry, and on audiences around the world, is inseparable from the story of his longstanding, collegial relationship with the Academy," Poitier's wife, Joanna Shimkus Poitier, said in a statement. "Sidney has always taken great pride in the Academy's recognition of his work. To be honored now as the namesake of the Academy Museum's lobby, the place of access to everything that lies within, is almost like receiving a second Oscar for lifetime achievement."
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will open to the public on Sept. 30.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)