Reaction and tributes are pouring in to the death of Harry Belafonte.
"Most of my family in the Caribbean, in Jamaica, were plantation workers," he told Vladimir Duthiers."Singing was a big part of the culture. It helped with the tediousness of working in the sun."
"I looked and saw players on the stage in the basement of a library in Harlem saying things and doing things that just absolutely overwhelmed me," he said."Young artists Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee were two of the performers that I saw." The actor made his Broadway debut in 1953's"John Murray Anderson's Almanac," and won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical.
But there were rough times, too. He was blacklisted during the McCarthy era, accused of being a communist. He said the accusations put a strain on his first marriage to Marguerite Byrd. They divorced after nine years, and in 1957 he married dancer Julie Robinson.
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