Harry Belafonte

Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte
	Belafonte in 1996
Background information
Birth name	Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.
Born	March 1, 1927; Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Died	April 25, 2023 (aged 96); Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Genres	Calypso; mento; pop; folk; world;
Occupation(s)	Singer; actor; activist;
Years active	1949–2023
Labels	RCA Victor; CBS; EMI; Island

Harold George "Harry" Belafonte Jr. (originally Belafonete or Bellanfanti; March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023) was an American singer, actor, and activist. His father was from Martinique; his mother was of Jamaican descent. He was a very successful pop singer. Some call him the "King of Calypso," because he popularized this Caribbean musical style in the 1950s. Belafonte is well known for singing the "Banana Boat Song", with the words "Day-O."^[1]

He worked for civil rights and humanitarian causes. He criticized the policies of George W. Bush. He endorsed Barack Obama for President of the United States in 2008 and Bernie Sanders for president in 2016.

Belafonte died from congestive heart failure on April 25, 2023 at his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, at the age of 96.^[2]

Filmography

Bright Road (1953)
Carmen Jones (1954)
Island in the Sun (1957)
The Heart of Show Business (1957) (short subject)
The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959)
Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970) (documentary) (narrator)
The Angel Levine (1970)
Buck and the Preacher (1972)
Uptown Saturday Night (1974)
A veces miro mi vida (1982)
Drei Lieder (1983) (short subject)
Sag nein (1983) (documentary)
Der Schönste Traum (1984) (documentary)
We Shall Overcome (1989) (documentary) (narrator)
The Player (1992) (Cameo)
Ready to Wear (1994) (Cameo)
Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream (1995)
White Man's Burden (1995)
Jazz '34 (1996)
Kansas City (1996)
Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist (1998) (documentary)
Fidel (2001) (documentary)
XXI Century (2003) (documentary)
Conakry Kas (2003) (documentary)
Ladders (2004) (documentary) (narrator)
Mo & Me (2006) (documentary)
Bobby (2006)
Motherland(2009) (documentary)

Television work

Sugar Hill Times (1949-1950)
Tonight With Belafonte (1959)
Petula (1968)
A World in Music (1969)
Harry & Lena, For The Love Of Life (1969)
A World in Love (1970)
Free to Be… You and Me (1974)
The Muppet Show (1978)
Grambling's White Tiger (1981)
Don't Stop The Carnival (1985)
An Evening With Harry Belafonte And Friends (1997)
Swing Vote (1999)
Tanner on Tanner (2004)
That's What I'm Talking About (2006) (miniseries)
When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (2006) (miniseries)

Stage work

John Murray Anderson's Almanac (December 10, 1953 - June 26, 1954)
3 for Tonight (April 6 - June 18, 1955)
Moonbirds (October 9 - October 10, 1959) (producer)
Belafonte at the Palace (December 15, 1959 - closing date unknown)
Asinamali! (April 23 - May 17, 1987) (producer)

Quotation

“	The sham engineers of the music industry, who steer the wheels of public opinion, are driving the good features of calypso into the ground. I shudder to think what these greedy men will eventually do to this true art form.	”
— NME - May 1957^[3]

Harry Belafonte Media

Belafonte with Nat King Cole in 1957
With Julie Andrews on the NBC special An Evening with Julie Andrews and Harry Belafonte (1969)
Belafonte performing in 1983
Harry Belafonte at the premiere of the documentary movie "Sing Your Song" about himself at the FriedrichstadtPalast, Berlin, Berlinale 2011
Belafonte at the 2011 Viennale
Belafonte with King Gustav VI Adolf and Martin Luther King Jr. in 1964
Belafonte (center) at the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C., with Sidney Poitier (left) and Charlton Heston
Belafonte (left) with activist and opera star Stacey Robinson in 1988.
Belafonte speaking at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.