Harry Belafonte, the legendary screen and stage actor, singer, and Civil Rights revolutionary, has always been a man that exudes pure class in everything he does.
Belafonte, the 83 year old WWII veteran, commander of stage and screen, whose career has spanned an amazing 61 years, gets the spotlight shined on him.
Belafonte is known to many as a legendary actor, but Belafonte as a music artist broke shattered glass ceilings when it was unheard of. Long before the age of the age of the music videos, the Internet, and mass marketing, Belafonte was the first artist to have a LP sell over 1 million copies for his debut album Calypso, which spent 31 weeks on the charts at #1.
In 1959, his television special Tonight with Belafonte, won an Emmy Award, making him the first Black-American to receive the award. He was also on the bill of performers at the Kennedy Presidential Inauguration.
He was a student at New York’s renowned The New School, where he studied along other acting legends, such as, Marlon Brando, Bea Arthur, Tony Curtis, and his lifelong friend and collaborator, fellow legend Sidney Poitier.
In 1954 he starred in Otto Preminger’s film Carmen Jones alongside Dorothy Dandridge and Pearl Baily. Dandridge went on to become the first Black-American female to be nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Actress category.
Belafonte has always been known for his strong held social and political beliefs. He was greatly influenced by his mentor, singer and activist Paul Robeson, was an advisor to and counted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a friend and confidant. He even bailed King out of the Birmingham jail when he was arrested during protest.
For his political beliefs, and his arduous task for equality for all in the United States during the turbulent Civil Rights Era, Belafonte was blacklisted in the McCarthy era.
He also refused to tour the Southern U.S. like so many other black performers during radical racially charged times, because of the high racial tension and segregation that still was grossly apparent in most Southern states.
Throughout his life he’s received numerous awards and accolades for his distinguished career and service as an activist, including in 1989 his Kennedy Center Honors, a National Medal of Arts in 1994, becoming UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, also receiving the BET Humanitarian Award in 2006.
Belefonte is man of action and always has been. When he puts himself behind a cause he sees it through and remains dedicated to the hard work it takes to make things a success. In the eyes of danger and fear Belafonte still marched on and is someone who we salute, not only because of a spectacular career in entertainment, but as a champion for equality and freedom for all. We salute Mr. Belafonte, the icon, the legend, the pioneer.
