Harry Belafonte, activist and entertainer, dies at 96
NEW YORK (AP) — Harry Belafonte, the civil rights and entertainment giant who began as a groundbreaking actor and singer and became an activist, humanitarian and conscience of the world, has died. He was 96.
Belafonte died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at his New York home, his wife Pamela by his side, said Ken Sunshine, of public relations firm Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis.
With his glowing, handsome face and silky-husky voice, Belafonte was one of the first Black performers to gain a wide following on film and to sell a million records as a singer; many still know him for his signature hit “Banana Boat Song (Day-O),” and its call of “Day-O! Daaaaay-O.” But he forged a greater legacy once he scaled back his performing career in the 1960s and lived out his hero Paul Robeson’s decree that artists are “gatekeepers of truth.”
He stands as the model and the epitome of the celebrity activist. Few kept up with Belafonte’s time and commitment and none his stature as a meeting point among Hollywood, Washington and the civil rights movement.
Belafonte not only participated in protest marches and benefit concerts, but helped organize and raise support for them. He worked closely with his friend and generational peer the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., often intervening on his behalf with both politicians and fellow entertainers and helping him financially. He risked his life and livelihood and set high standards for younger Black celebrities, scolding Jay Z and Beyonce for failing to meet their “social responsibilities,” and mentoring Usher, Common, Danny Glover and many others. In Spike Lee’s 2018 film “BlacKkKlansman,” he was fittingly cast as an elder statesman schooling young activists about the country’s past.
Belafonte’s friend, civil rights leader Andrew Young, would note that Belafonte was the rare person to grow more radical with age. He was ever engaged and unyielding, willing to take on Southern segregationists, Northern liberals, the billionaire Koch brothers and the country’s first Black president, Barack Obama, whom Belafonte would remember asking to cut him “some slack.”
Belafonte responded, “What makes you think that’s not what I’ve been doing?”
Belafonte had been a major artist since the 1950s. He won a Tony Award in 1954 for his starring role in John Murray Anderson’s “Almanac” and five years later became the first Black performer to win an Emmy for the TV special “Tonight with Harry Belafonte.”
In 1954, he co-starred with Dorothy Dandridge in the Otto Preminger-directed musical “Carmen Jones,” a popular breakthrough for an all-Black cast. The 1957 movie “Island in the Sun” was banned in several Southern cities, where theater owners were threatened by the Ku Klux Klan because of the film’s interracial romance between Belafonte and Joan Fontaine.
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The Moxy Williamsburg’s rooftop bar has risen
The former nightlife hotspot of Williamsburg, Brooklyn—presently an expensive new construction campus populated by the elder millennials who may have caught the tail end of its erstwhile buzz—is looking up once more. To hotel rooftops, precisely.
The William Vale’s Westlight is a modern classic of the elevated drinking genre; relative newcomer Laser Wolf caught popularity that can’t be bought when it opened on the Hoxton’s 10th floor last year, and now the latest Moxy will unveil its own LilliStar viewstaurant and bar on Wednesday, April 26.
LilliStar’s seats span inside and outdoor areas, with vistas of the lower Manhattan skyline, East River and Williamsburg Bridge throughout, due to the floor-to-ceiling windows lining the former. The 11th-floor space’s lofty interior is fitted with plush banquettes, soft bursts of foliage, and candlelit tables under its high ceilings. The terrace is similarly appointed with an unobstructed look at its main attractions.
Cocktails from the Indonesian Australian-influenced menu aim to reflect the seasons and incorporate fresh ingredients. The Bumbu Marg, made with tequila, strawberry and kiwi oleo, bird’s eye chili, lime juice and strawberry salt and the Uluwatu’s (pandan-infused sherry, toasted coconut, pineapple sea moss) are among the bar’s premiere offerings. Planned plates include short rib rendang bao and ayam goreng wings.
LilliStar is located on the 11th floor of Moxy Williamsburg at 353 Bedford Avenue. It will be open Monday-Friday from 4pm-11am and Saturday-Sunday from noon to midnight beginning Wednesday, April 26.
Singer, actor, civil right activist Harry Belafonte dies at age 96
Reports indicate that famed singer and actor Harry Belafonte has died. According to his publicist, Belafonte died of congestive heart failure on Tuesday. He was 96.
More information to come.
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