Harry Belafonte is most famous for introducing America to calypso music, with hits like Day-O and Jump In the Line. But he was also one of the most earnest and hard-working fighters of injustice America has ever produced and he deserves to be celebrated.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
What made Harry Belafonte an iconic entertainer?
That's the closest thing to an on-screen kiss that there was. Yeah. Not close to a kid's home. But that was at the forefront of pushing the envelope as far as race relations in America went. And that's why Harry Belafonte was like, yes, give me that role. I will totally take that role.
Yeah, for sure. In real life, IRL, he married his second wife around the same time. Her name was Julie Robinson. She was a dancer and she was white. And they were probably, I would not even say one of the most, they were probably the most prominent interracial couple in America at the time.
For sure. She was also Brando's girlfriend when they met.
Look out, Marlon. Harry Belafonte. Pretty handsome guy.
Oh, man. Beyond handsome. Yeah. So, Chuck, when we were just talking about Islands in the Sun, I was saying that Harry Belafonte would totally choose a role that pushed the envelope for race relations. Not to stick it in the eye of white America, but to push things forward and just basically say black people are people, too. Let's portray them as such on the screen. OK. Yeah.
In doing that, he had to choose over and over and over again between advancing his career and standing by his values. And without missing a single opportunity, he stood by his values every time.
Yeah. I mean, he was offered and that's just kind of what I was alluding to earlier. He was offered roles. He called them Uncle Tom roles. And he said that's about all you could get at one point in Hollywood or on stage. And he just wouldn't play those roles. He you know, it depends on who you are and where you draw the line. And I mean, that's where he drew his line.
His good friend Sidney Poitier would take not necessarily those roles, but other roles that Harry Belafonte didn't think had enough sort of nuance for a black actor or spoke to his truth. Sometimes his friend Sidney Poitier would take those roles, not in any way like a sellout or anything like that.
He had his own ideas of how to advance the cause and advance his career and stay in the limelight so he could do his good work as well. But they were rivals in a way, but also best friends.
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