At the end of the 1940s, he took classes in acting at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York with the influential German director Erwin Piscator alongside Marlon Brando, Tony Curtis, Walter Matthau, Bea Arthur, and Poitier, while performing with the American Negro Theater. The financially struggling pair regularly purchased a single seat to local plays, trading places in between acts, after informing the other about the progression of the play. He fell in love with the art form and also became friends with Sidney Poitier. In the 1940s, he was working as a janitor's assistant when a tenant gave him, as a gratuity, two tickets to see the American Negro Theater. Upon returning to New York City, he attended George Washington High School after which he joined the Navy and served during World War II. įrom 1932 to 1940, Belafonte lived with one of his grandmothers in her native country of Jamaica, where he attended Wolmer's Schools. His mother was the child of a Scottish Jamaican mother and an Afro-Jamaican father, and his father was the child of a Black American mother and a Dutch-Jewish father of Sephardic Jewish descent. at Lying-in Hospital on March 1, 1927, in Harlem, New York, the son of Jamaican-born parents Harold George Bellanfanti Sr., who worked as a chef, and Melvine ( née Love), a housekeeper. Early life īelafonte was born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr. 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 and is the oldest living person to have received the honor. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1994. In 1989, he received the Kennedy Center Honors. īelafonte has won three Grammy Awards (including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award), an Emmy Award, and a Tony Award. Belafonte acts as the American Civil Liberties Union celebrity ambassador for juvenile justice issues. He was a vocal critic of the policies of the George W. Since 1987, he has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Martin King was the second he nourished my soul." Throughout his career, Belafonte has been an advocate for political and humanitarian causes, such as the Anti-Apartheid Movement and USA for Africa. As he later recalled, "Paul Robeson had been my first great formative influence you might say he gave me my backbone. during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. He has also starred in several films, including Carmen Jones (1954), Island in the Sun (1957), and Odds Against Tomorrow (1959).īelafonte considered the actor, singer and activist Paul Robeson a mentor, and he was a close confidant of Martin Luther King Jr. He has recorded and performed in many genres, including blues, folk, gospel, show tunes, and American standards. īelafonte is best known for his recordings of " The Banana Boat Song", with its signature "Day-O" lyric, " Jump in the Line", and " Jamaica Farewell". His breakthrough album Calypso (1956) was the first million-selling LP by a single artist. As arguably the most successful Caribbean-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Calypso musical style with an international audience in the 1950s. March 1, 1927) is an American singer, activist, and actor. Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.
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