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Sidney Poitier, the legendary star who was the first Black man to win the Oscar for Best Actor, has died at 94, Bahamas Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell confirmed to CBS News Friday. Mitchell was told of Poitier's death by the family but had no other details.

Poitier, who held dual U.S. and Bahamian nationality, was "an icon, a hero, a mentor, a fighter, a national treasure," Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper said on his official Facebook page.

Poitier's life was a series of "firsts." In 1958, he was the first Black actor nominated for an Oscar as Best Actor for his role as an escaped convict chained to Tony Curtis in "The Defiant Ones."

When he was nominated again in 1964, for "Lilies of the Field," he took home the Academy Award. He was not only the first Black actor to do so, he remained the only one until 2002.

He was also the first Black man to kiss a White woman in a movie, 1965's "A Patch of Blue."

He delivered memorable performances in films including "In the Heat of the Night," which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, "To Sir, with Love," and "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner."

Poitier was awarded the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom — the nation's highest civilian honor — by Barack Obama in 2009.