| The acting profession's top award has gone to a black actor for the first time. Sidney Poitier won the best actor Oscar for his role in Lilies of the Field. In the film, released last year, he played construction worker Homer Smith whom a group of nuns believe was sent to them by God to build their church. The only other black person to win an Oscar was the best supporting actress award given to Hattie McDaniel in 1939 for her role in Gone with the Wind. Alongside 'Rat Pack' actor Sammy Davis Jnr and, earlier, Paul Robeson, Poitier is one of only a handful of black men to gain recognition in Hollywood for roles not involving singing or dancing. | 
