The Bookish Life of Harry Belafonte

Most radical cognize the precocious Harry Belafonte arsenic a singer, but helium was truthful overmuch much than that. Born March 1, 1927, to Jamaican migrant parents successful Harlem, his commencement sanction was Harold George Bellanfanti, Jr. He was raised Catholic (his begetter was of Sephardic Jewish descent arsenic good arsenic Afro-Jamaican, but Judaism is passed done the maternal line) and grew up successful Harlem arsenic good arsenic Jamaica, wherever helium lived with his grandma for respective years and archetypal heard the enactment songs helium would aboriginal record. Back successful New York, helium dropped retired of precocious schoolhouse to articulation the Navy and service successful World War II.

After the war, helium recovered enactment arsenic a janitor and — according to his memoir, My Song — was fixed tickets to the American Negro Theater. He fell successful emotion with the theatre and besides met Sidney Poitier, who was 9 days older than him. The 2 became accelerated friends, grooming unneurotic and pooling their wealth to spell to arsenic galore shows arsenic possible; they would instrumentality turns utilizing a azygous summons to get in, each describing the enactment they had conscionable watched to the different arsenic they switched places.

In the precocious 1940s, Belafonte took acting classes with the New School arsenic good arsenic performing with the American Negro Theater. He worked arsenic a nightclub vocalist to wage for his lessons, backed by the Charlie Parker band. His singing landed him a declaration with RCA Records successful 1953, and helium recorded with them for implicit 20 years. His debut record, Calypso, was the archetypal medium ever to merchantability 1 cardinal copies and included the opus “Day-O,” AKA the Banana Boat Song, which helium said is “about men who sweat each time long, and they are underpaid, and they’re begging the tallyman to travel and springiness them an honorable number — counting the bananas that I’ve picked, truthful I tin beryllium paid.”

It’s nary astonishment that Belafonte considered himself an activistic archetypal and an creator second. He was highly political, campaigning for John F. Kennedy and for Lyndon B. Johnson’s reelection aft helium succeeded Kennedy — and aboriginal opposing George W. Bush and supporting Barrack Obama and Bernie Sanders. But helium is champion known for his enactment successful the Civil Rights movement, alongside his friends Sidney Poitier and Martin Luther King Jr. He financed King’s activism, organized the Freedom March connected Washington wherever King delivered the I Have a Dream speech, and helium bailed King retired of jailhouse during the 1963 Birmingham campaign, which was erstwhile his celebrated Letter from a Birmingham Jail was penned. He aboriginal organized “We Are the World,” performed astatine Live Aid, was a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, and campaigned to cure AIDS and rise consciousness of prostate cancer, among different actions.

Somehow, helium besides recovered clip to act, and a fewer of his films were bookish. His archetypal movie, 1953’s Bright Road, was adapted from “See How They Run” by Mary Elizabeth Vroman and starred Dorothy Dandridge and a mostly Black cast. In 1970 helium starred with Zero Mostel and Gloria Foster successful The Angel Levine, based connected a abbreviated communicative by Bernard Malamud. He appeared successful 1992’s The Player, starring Tim Robbins and based connected the publication The Player by Michael Tolkin. And, successful his last surface role, helium appeared successful BlacKkKlansman successful 2018, based connected Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth. (He besides appeared successful astir everything directed by his person Sidney Poitier.)

Belafonte is an EGOT winner. He won some a Tony and an Emmy successful the 1950s for John Murray Anderson’s Almanac: A Musical Harlequinade and The Revlon Revue: Tonight With Belafonte, respectively. His TV amusement was canceled erstwhile censors, who did not similar the integrated cast, asked him to marque it an all-Black show, and helium refused. He has won 2 Grammy awards (with 11 nominations) and a non-competitive Oscar (the Academy’s Governor’s Award). In summation to his EGOT, helium is successful the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and was the recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors.

Harry Belafonte has been joined 3 times and has 4 children arsenic good arsenic grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He died of bosom nonaccomplishment astatine property 96 connected April 25, 2023. Harry Belafonte, we salute your bookish life!