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Actor · Acting

Harry Belafonte

Born 1927-03-01
Died 2023-04-25
📍 New York City, New York, USA

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.

Filmography 132

CIRILO, A Legacy Untold
2025
Hollywood Black
as Self (archive footage)
2024
Following Harry
as Self (archive footage)
2024
Jim Henson Idea Man
as Self (archive footage)
2024
The Greatest Night in Pop
as Self (archive footage)
2024
Sunday Best: The Untold Story of Ed Sullivan
as Self
2023
Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes
as Self
2023
2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
as Self - Inductee (archive footage)
2022
Is That Black Enough for You?!?
as Self
2022
Sidney
as Self
2022
Harry Belafonte: Between Calypso and Justice
as Self - Subject (archive footage)
2022
The One and Only Dick Gregory
as Self
2021
Dom Salvador & The Abolition
as Self
2020
The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts The Tonight Show
as Self
2020
Nana Mouskouri, Momente ihres Lebens
as Self (archive footage)
2020
TV Story Superstar
as Self (archive footage)
2020
The Man Behind the White Guitar
as Self
2019
BlacKkKlansman
as Jerome Turner
2018
Mr. SOUL!
as Self
2018
Bobby Kennedy for President
as Self
2018
Rise Up: The Movement that Changed America
as Self
2018
Martin Luther King by Trevor Mcdonald
as Self - Singer
2018
King in the Wilderness
as Self
2018
Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes / Feeling Heart
as Self
2017
The Madding Crowd
as Self (archive footage)
2017
Jackie Robinson
as Self
2016
Året var 1966
as Self (archive footage)
2016
Marsha Hunt's Sweet Adversity
as Self
2015
Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee
as Self
2014
Nat King Cole: Afraid of the Dark
as Self
2014
Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley
as Self
2013
Martin Luther King and the March on Washington
as Self
2013
JFK: The Private President
as Self
2013
Hava Nagila: The Movie
as Self
2012
Tony Curtis: Driven to Stardom
as Self
2012
Sing Your Song
as Self
2012
Mama Africa
as Self (archive footage)
2011
The University of Sing Sing
as Self
2011
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
as Self (voice)
2011
Motherland
as Self
2010
Anecdotes about Fidel
2009
American Renegade: Confessions of a Radical Humanist
as Self
2009
Bobby
as Nelson
2006
When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts
as Self
2006
Mo & Me
2006
Best Ever Muppet Moments
as Self
2006
The Colbert Report
as Self - Guest
2005
Legenden: Audrey Hepburn
as Self
2005
The Legendary Nat King Cole
as Self
2004
Tanner on Tanner
as Self
2004
Kulturplatz
as Self
2004
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism
as Self (archive footage)
2004
The World of Nat King Cole
as Self
2004
TV in Black: The First Fifty Years
as Self (archive footage)
2004
Smothered: The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
as Self (uncredited)
2002
Altman on His Own Terms
as Self
2000
Swing Vote
as Will Dunn
1999
Paul Robeson: Here I Stand
as Self
1999
Vivement dimanche
as Self
1998
PB&J Otter
as The Ice Moose (voice)
1998
Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist
as Self
1998
Audrey Hepburn: The Fairest Lady
as Self
1997
Jazz '34
as Self - Narrator
1997
Kansas City
as Seldom Seen
1996
The Rosie O'Donnell Show
as Self
1996
White Man's Burden
as Thaddeus Thomas
1995
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child
as Magic Man (voice)
1995
Prêt-à-Porter
as Self
1994
The World of Jim Henson
as Self
1994
The Best Of Danny Kaye - The Television Years
as Self (archive footage)
1993
The Player
as Harry Belafonte
1992
DAS!
as Self
1991
The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson
as Self
1990
The Unforgettable Nat King Cole
as Self
1989
We Shall Overcome
as Self - Narrator
1989
Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute
as Self
1988
The Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Concert
as Self
1988
Sacrée Soirée
as Self
1987
The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years
as Self (archive footage)
1986
The Muppet Revue
as Self
1985
We Are the World: The Story Behind the Song
as Self
1985
Night of 100 Stars
as Self
1982
Champs-Elysées
as Self
1982
Wetten, dass..?
as Self
1981
Heut' abend
as Self
1980
CBS News Sunday Morning
as Self
1979
The Kennedy Center Honors
as Self
1978
The Royal Variety Performance 1977
as Self
1977
Auf los geht's los
as Self
1977
The Tallest Tree in Our Forest
as Self
1977
The Muppet Show
as Self - Special Guest Star
1976
Numéro un
as Self
1975
Uptown Saturday Night
as Geechie Dan Beauford
1974
Free to Be… You and Me
as Self
1974
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
as Self
1973
Nationtime
as Self
1972
The Julie Andrews Hour
as Self
1972
Buck and the Preacher
as Preacher
1972
Le Grand Échiquier
as Self
1972
Great Performances
as Self
1971
The Flip Wilson Show
as Self
1970
The Angel Levine
as Alexander Levine
1970
King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis
as Self (archive footage)
1970
The Dick Cavett Show
as Self - Guest
1968
Petula
as Self
1968
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
as Self (uncredited)
1968
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
as Self
1967
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
as Self - Cameo
1967
ABC Stage 67
as Self
1966
The Strolling '20s
as Self
1966
The Day of the Oath
as Self
1965
The Danny Kaye Show
as Self
1963
The Merv Griffin Show
as Self
1962
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
as Self
1962
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
as Self - Guest Host
1962
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1962
The Mike Douglas Show
as Self
1961
Odds Against Tomorrow
as Johnny Ingram
1959
The World, the Flesh and the Devil
as Ralph Burton
1959
The Bell Telephone Hour
as Self
1959
Aktuelle Schaubude
as Self
1957
Island in the Sun
as David Boyeur
1957
The Steve Allen Show
as Self - Singer
1956
Tony Awards
as Self - Presenter
1956
Carmen Jones
as Joe
1954
Bright Road
as Mr. Williams - School Principal
1953
The Oscars
as Self
1953
General Electric Theater
as Vince
1953
The Colgate Comedy Hour
as Self
1950
What's My Line?
as Self - Mystery Guest
1950
The Ed Sullivan Show
as Self
1948
Nat King Cole & Friends Unforgettable Hits
as Self (archive footage)