Harry Belafonte: A legend's life in pictures

His tunes are known around the world: "The Banana Boat Song" with its cheerful "Day-O," or "Matilda," about a girl who steals money from a young man before disappearing to Venezuela, as well as the Caribbean love song "Island in the Sun." Thanks to these popular songs, entire generations know Harry Belafonte, who has died at the age of 96.

In 1956, Belafonte had his breakthrough in pop music with the album "Calypso." Critics accused him of mixing calypso music with jazz and folk elements to create a canned pop sound. But Belafonte just laughed off the bad reviews, inviting his critics to a debate instead: "Anyone who tries to stop me with nonsense about what is or isn't commercial is in for a fight."

By 1960, Harry Belafonte and Nat King Cole were superstars. Together, they started a production company called Cole-Belafonte Enterprises, which supported many musicians of color. They are said to have thrown a coin to decide whose name would come first to designate the company. They also memorably performed the song "Mama Look a Boo Boo" together on NBC in 1957.

He dreamed of playing Hamlet on stage as a child. In 1954, film director Otto Preminger picked Belafonte for his musical film "Carmen Jones." All actors in this adaptation of Bizet's opera "Carmen" were African-American. Belafonte became famous. Roughly 40 films were to follow. Among them was "Buck and the Preacher," where Belafonte (left) starred alongside his friend Sidney Poitier.

Harry Belafonte married three times. Pictured here is his second wife, Julie, with their son David. When they married in 1957, interracial marriages were still unusual in the US, but that didn't stop the young couple. They stayed together for 50 years. One year after their divorce in 2007, Belafonte married for the third time. He had four children altogether.

Many artists to who rise to fame as early and rapidly as Belafonte often struggle to cope with their success, escaping the pressures of popularity with drug abuse. But Belafonte avoided this path by investing his energy in the Civil Rights Movement. The movement's figurehead, Martin Luther King, became his mentor and one of his closest friends.

Burt Lancaster, Harry Belafonte and Charlton Heston participated in the historical demonstration in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963. More than 100,000 African-Americans also took part, demanding equal rights. That's where Martin Luther King gave his famous speech, "I Have a Dream." Beyond the Civil Rights Movement, Belafonte remained an activist for humanitarian causes throughout his life.

One could count on Harry Belafonte's presence whenever hundreds of thousands of people came together to demonstrate for peace and human rights. In 1981, he came to Bonn to join what was then Germany's biggest demonstration for peace. That Saturday, more than 300,000 people assembled in Bonn's Hofgarten to protest against the nuclear threat.

In 1983, Belafonte and West German rock star Udo Lindenberg were invited to East Berlin for a concert hosted by the Free German Youth (FDJ). The slogan was "For peace in the world — against NATO's double-track decision." The East German secret police, the Stasi, was present during the press conference, listening carefully to what the artists had to say. But that did not frighten off Belafonte.

Belafonte was inspired by the British benefit project Band Aid, in which numerous pop stars participated to collect funds for famine relief in Africa. In 1985, together with Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, he launched the project United Support of Artists (USA) for Africa. A total of 45 US pop stars sang "We are the World" together, raising money for drought victims in Ethiopia.

Harry Belafonte was appointed UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1987. He traveled to crisis regions to document living conditions there for the media. In 1993, he visited Rwanda in support of the UNICEF project "Rwanda's Forgotten Children," which saved thousands of orphans from the 1994 genocide.

Harry Belafonte became a close friend of Nelson Mandela. For many years, Belafonte fought against the apartheid regime in South Africa, demanding the release of Mandela. In 1990, he was honored by the Nelson Mandela Award. The picture shows Belafonte with his second wife, Julie, during their visit to Nelson Mandela in 1999.

In 2014, Harry Belafonte was awarded an honorary Oscar for his lifetime achievement as an artist and social activist. "Perhaps we, as artists and visionaries, could influence people all over the world to see the better side of the human species," he said when he received the award. His old friend Sidney Poitier, who died in January 2022, was there on stage to congratulate him.