Education: Attended Dramatic Workshop of the New School for Social Research, studying under Erwin Piscator. Impressed by the power and message of O ’Casey ’s words, and by the promise of theater in general, Belafonte enrolled in the Dramatic Workshop of the New School for Social Research, studying under famous German director Erwin At a Glance …īorn Harold George Belafonte, Jr., March 1,1927, in New York, NY son of Harold George and Melvine (Love) Belafonte married, 1948 wife ’s name Marguerite (divorced) married Julie Robinson (a dancer), Machildren: Adrienne, Shari, David, Gina. ” His first leading role with the company was in Irish playwright Sean O ’Casey ’s Juno and the Paycock. I went backstage to see if there was anything I could do. “It was really a spiritual, mystical feeling I had that night. “I was absolutely mesmerized by that experience, ” he told the Ottawa Citizen in 1990. His first foray into the world of entertainment came in the late 1940s when he was given two tickets to a production of the American Negro Theater. After an honorable discharge he returned to New York City, where he bounced between odd jobs. When the United States entered World War II, he ended his high school education and enlisted in the U.S. Once back in Harlem, another culturally and artistically rich environment, Belafonte became street smart, learning the hard lessons of survival in the big city. ”It helped me carve out a tremendous link to other nations that reflect a similar temperament or character.

’That environment gave me much of my sense of the world at large and what I wanted to do with it, ” Belafonte was quoted as saying in the Paul Masson Summer Series.

In the five years he spent on the island he not only absorbed the music that was such a vital part of the culture but also observed the effects of colonialism, the political oppression that native Jamaicans had to endure under British rule. His parents were West Indian, and he moved with his mother to her native Jamaica when he was a child. Known as the “consummate entertainer, ” Belafonte was born in Harlem, New York, in 1927. Belafonte ’s accomplishments, and the awards bestowed on him in the spheres of entertainment and activism, show a man equally committed to musical excellence and political virtuousness. Since that time Belafonte has used his visibility as an entertainer to cast a political spotlight on humanitarian causes ranging from world hunger to civil rights to the plight of children in the Third World. In the 1950s Belafonte introduced the colorful, bouncy melodies of calypso music to the United States, and American listeners began swaying to the jaunty Caribbean beat and singing “Day-O ” along with the masterful crooner. It has been said that in the life and work of entertainer Harry Belafonte, the worlds of music and morality do not collide, but rather balance harmoniously.

Harry belafonte day o