The Bookish Life of Harry Belafonte

Most individuals know the late Harry Belafonte as a singer, however he was a lot greater than that. Born March 1, 1927, to Jamaican immigrant dad and mom in Harlem, his start identify was Harold George Bellanfanti, Jr. He was raised Catholic (his father was of Sephardic Jewish descent in addition to Afro-Jamaican, however Judaism is handed via the maternal line) and grew up in Harlem in addition to Jamaica, the place he lived along with his grandmother for a number of years and first heard the work songs he would later report. Back in New York, he dropped out of highschool to affix the Navy and serve in World War II.

After the warfare, he discovered work as a janitor and — in keeping with his memoir, My Song — was given tickets to the American Negro Theater. He fell in love with the theater and in addition met Sidney Poitier, who was 9 days older than him. The two turned quick buddies, coaching collectively and pooling their cash to go to as many exhibits as doable; they might take turns utilizing a single ticket to get in, every describing the act that they had simply watched to the opposite as they switched locations.

In the late Nineteen Forties, Belafonte took appearing courses with the New School in addition to performing with the American Negro Theater. He labored as a nightclub singer to pay for his classes, backed by the Charlie Parker band. His singing landed him a contract with RCA Records in 1953, and he recorded with them for over 20 years. His debut report, Calypso, was the primary album ever to promote 1 million copies and included the tune “Day-O,” AKA the Banana Boat Song, which he mentioned is “about men who sweat all day long, and they are underpaid, and they’re begging the tallyman to come and give them an honest count — counting the bananas that I’ve picked, so I can be paid.”

It’s no shock that Belafonte thought of himself an activist first and an artist second. He was extraordinarily political, campaigning for John F. Kennedy and for Lyndon B. Johnson’s reelection after he succeeded Kennedy — and later opposing George W. Bush and supporting Barrack Obama and Bernie Sanders. But he’s finest identified for his work within the Civil Rights motion, alongside his buddies Sidney Poitier and Martin Luther King Jr. He financed King’s activism, organized the Freedom March on Washington the place King delivered the I Have a Dream speech, and he bailed King out of jail in the course of the 1963 Birmingham marketing campaign, which was when his well-known Letter from a Birmingham Jail was penned. He later organized “We Are the World,” carried out at Live Aid, was a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, and campaigned to treatment AIDS and lift consciousness of prostate most cancers, amongst different actions.

Somehow, he additionally discovered time to behave, and some of his movies have been bookish. His first film, 1953’s Bright Road, was tailored from “See How They Run” by Mary Elizabeth Vroman and starred Dorothy Dandridge and a largely Black solid. In 1970 he starred with Zero Mostel and Gloria Foster in The Angel Levine, primarily based on a brief story by Bernard Malamud. He appeared in 1992’s The Player, starring Tim Robbins and primarily based on the guide The Player by Michael Tolkin. And, in his remaining display screen position, he appeared in BlacKkKlansman in 2018, primarily based on Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth. (He additionally appeared in practically the whole lot directed by his good friend Sidney Poitier.)

Belafonte is an EGOT winner. He gained each a Tony and an Emmy within the Fifties for John Murray Anderson’s Almanac: A Musical Harlequinade and The Revlon Revue: Tonight With Belafonte, respectively. His TV present was canceled when censors, who didn’t just like the built-in solid, requested him to make it an all-Black present, and he refused. He has gained two Grammy awards (with 11 nominations) and a non-competitive Oscar (the Academy’s Governor’s Award). In addition to his EGOT, he’s within the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and was the recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors.

Harry Belafonte has been married 3 times and has 4 kids in addition to grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He died of coronary heart failure at age 96 on April 25, 2023. Harry Belafonte, we salute your bookish life!