Biography
Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023) was an American singer, actor and activist, who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s. Belafonte is one of the few performers to have received an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony (EGOT), although he won the Oscar in a non-competitive category. He earned his career breakthrough with the album Calypso (1956), which was the first million-selling LP by a single artist. Belafonte was best known for his recordings of "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)", "Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora)", "Jamaica Farewell", and "Mary's Boy Child". He recorded and performed in many genres, including blues, folk, gospel, show tunes, and American standards. He also starred in films such as Carmen Jones (1954), Island in the Sun (1957), Odds Against Tomorrow (1959), Buck and the Preacher (1972), and Uptown Saturday Night (1974). He made his final screen appearance in Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman (2018). Belafonte considered the actor, singer, and activist Paul Robeson a mentor, and he was a close confidant of Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. He was a vocal critic of the policies of the George W. Bush and Donald Trump administrations. Belafonte acted as the American Civil Liberties Union celebrity ambassador for juvenile justice issues. Belafonte won three Grammy Awards (including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award), an Emmy Award, and a Tony Award. In 1989, he received the Kennedy Center Honors. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1994. In 2014, he received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy's 6th Annual Governors Awards and in 2022 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Early Influence category. Description above from the Wikipedia article Harry Belafonte, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Awards & recognition
- Rock and Roll Hall of Fame · 2022
- Four Freedoms Award – Freedom Medal · 2017
- Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award · 2014
- Ambassador of Conscience Award · 2013
- Spingarn Medal · 2012
Show all 20 awards →
- Bishop John T. Walker Distinguished Humanitarian Service Award · 2002
- Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award · 2000
- Marian Anderson Award · 1998
- National Medal of Arts · 1994
- honorary degree from Spelman College · 1990
- Kennedy Center Honors · 1989
- Paul Robeson Award · 1979
- Emmy Award · 1960
- Theatre World Award · 1954
- Tony Award — Best Featured Actor in a Musical · 1954
- Library of Congress Living Legend
- NAACP Image Award – Chairman's Award
- Order of Jamaica
- Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo
- star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
Filmography50+ titles
Hollywood Black
We Are the World: The Story Behind the Song
Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist
The Muppet Show
Nationtime
The Greatest Night in Pop
Jackie Robinson
Jim Henson: Idea Man
Bobby Kennedy for President
The One and Only Dick Gregory
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
BlacKkKlansman
When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Sidney
King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis
The Player
Hava Nagila: The Movie
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism
Grambling's White Tiger
CBS News Sunday Morning
What's My Line?
King In The Wilderness
Sing Your Song
The Colbert Report
The Colgate Comedy Hour
Beat Street
The Dick Cavett Show
Odds Against Tomorrow
The Ed Sullivan Show
Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Bright Road
Island in the Sun
Bobby
The World, the Flesh and the Devil
Buck and the Preacher
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child
Is That Black Enough for You?!?
Uptown Saturday Night
Carmen Jones
Sunday Best: The Untold Story of Ed Sullivan
Kansas City
Great Performances
The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts The Tonight Show
Mama Africa
The Angel Levine
TV in Black: The First Fifty Years
Ready to Wear
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