Harry Belafonte, the civil rights and entertainment giant who began as a groundbreaking actor and singer and became an activist, humanitarian and conscience of the world, has died. He was 96.
Belafonte died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at his New York home, his wife Pamela by his side, said Ken Sunshine, of public relations firm Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis.
With his glowing, handsome face and silky-husky voice, Belafonte was one of the first Black performers to gain a wide following on film and to sell a million records as a singer; many still know him for his signature hit and its call of 鈥淒ay-O! Daaaaay-O.鈥� But he forged a greater legacy once he scaled back his performing career in the 1960s and lived out his hero Paul Robeson鈥檚 decree that artists are 鈥済atekeepers of truth.鈥�
He stands as the model and the epitome of the celebrity activist. Few kept up with Belafonte鈥檚 time and commitment and none his stature as a meeting point among Hollywood, Washington and the civil rights movement.
Belafonte not only participated in protest marches and benefit concerts, but helped organize and raise support for them. He worked closely with his friend and generational peer the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., often intervening on his behalf with both politicians and fellow entertainers and helping him financially.
He risked his life and livelihood and set high standards for younger Black celebrities, scolding Jay Z and Beyonce for failing to meet their 鈥渟ocial responsibilities,鈥� and mentoring Usher, Common, Danny Glover and many others. In Spike Lee鈥檚 2018 film he was fittingly cast as an elder statesman schooling young activists about the country鈥檚 past.
Belafonte鈥檚 friend, civil rights leader Andrew Young, would note that Belafonte was the rare person to grow more radical with age. He was ever engaged and unyielding, willing to take on Southern segregationists, Northern liberals, the billionaire Koch brothers and the country鈥檚 first Black president, Barack Obama, whom Belafonte would remember asking to cut him 鈥渟ome slack.鈥�
Belafonte responded, 鈥淲hat makes you think that鈥檚 not what I鈥檝e been doing?鈥�
Belafonte had been a major artist since the 1950s. He won a Tony Award in 1954 for his starring role in John Murray Anderson鈥檚 鈥淎lmanac鈥� and five years later became the first Black performer to win an Emmy for the TV special 鈥淭onight with Harry Belafonte.鈥�
In 1954, he co-starred with Dorothy Dandridge in the Otto Preminger-directed musical 鈥淐armen Jones,鈥� a popular breakthrough for an all-Black cast. The 1957 movie 鈥淚sland in the Sun鈥� was banned in several Southern cities, where theater owners were threatened by the Ku Klux Klan because of the film鈥檚 interracial romance between Belafonte and Joan Fontaine.
鈥擧illel Italie, The Associated Press
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