French laud Poitier for equality fight

France gave Sidney Poitier its highest arts honor at the Cannes Film Festival, where the culture minister praised the Oscar winner for tearing down barriers for black actors in Hollywood.

Poitier, 79, on Thursday was named a commander in France’s Order of Arts and Letters. In 1964, he became the first black performer in a leading role to win an Academy Award, for “Lilies of the Field.”

“You are the champion of equality between men,” culture minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres said.

Poitier thanked his parents and the directors who broke convention to hire him, calling them “men who chose to change that pattern because it was not democratic, it was not American, it was not human.”