Harry Belafonte

**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_."

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.

## 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)

## Other websites

- _Harry Belafonte - a site of sites_
- Harry Belafonte discography
- 2004 Global Exchange Human Rights Award  - Belafonte's acceptance speech in San Francisco
- Ubben Lecture at DePauw University
- Democracy Now!  transcript/MP3/video of interview by Amy Goodman, January 30, 2006
- _The Bigotry of Belafonte_  - by Andrew Sullivan, Salon.com, Oct. 25, 2002
- "The Man Behind Belafonte's Music - Irving Burgie" - by Ronald David Jackson, with video
- Discography at SonyBMG Masterworks
- The HistoryMakers  Biography and video clips
- Harry Belafonte Appreciation Group on Imeem
- Harry Belafonte: Belafonte At Carnegie Hall
- Belafonte and Nat King Cole sing "Mama Look at Bubu"
- Belafonte: "Iraq & Afghanistan Wars Are Immoral" - video report by _Democracy Now!_
- Hear Harry Belafonte on the Pop Chronicles

## Infobox (musical artist)

- **name**: Harry Belafonte
- **img**: Harry Belafonte 1996.jpg
- **img capt**: Belafonte in 1996
- **background**: solo_singer
- **birth name**: Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.
- **birth place**: Manhattan, New York, U.S.
- **death place**: Manhattan, New York, U.S.
- **years active**: 1949–2023
- **label**: RCA Victor
CBS Records, CBS
EMI
Island Records, Island