Sidney Poitier Wins Best Actor | 36th Oscars (1964) May 2026

He won against Paul Newman ( Hud ), Rex Harrison ( Cleopatra ), Richard Harris ( This Sporting Life ), and Albert Finney ( Tom Jones ).

Poitier’s acceptance speech at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium was famously brief and dignified: Sidney Poitier Wins Best Actor | 36th Oscars (1964)

The piece refers to the historic moment on April 13, 1964, when Sidney Poitier became the first Black man to win the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field . Acceptance Speech Transcript He won against Paul Newman ( Hud ),

Lilies of the Field (1963), in which he played Homer Smith, a handyman who helps a group of nuns build a chapel. Rex Harrison ( Cleopatra )

Anne Bancroft , who congratulated him with a kiss on the cheek—a gesture considered groundbreaking at the time.