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 and its call of B次元官网网址淒ay-O! Daaaaay-O.B次元官网网址� But he forged a greater legacy once he scaled back his performing career in the 1960s and lived out his hero Paul RobesonB次元官网网址檚 decree that artists are B次元官网网址済atekeepers of truth.B次元官网网址�

He stands as the model and the epitome of the celebrity activist. Few kept up with BelafonteB次元官网网址檚 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 B次元官网网址渟ocial responsibilities,B次元官网网址� and mentoring Usher, Common, Danny Glover and many others. In Spike LeeB次元官网网址檚 2018 film he was fittingly cast as an elder statesman schooling young activists about the countryB次元官网网址檚 past.

BelafonteB次元官网网址檚 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 countryB次元官网网址檚 first Black president, Barack Obama, whom Belafonte would remember asking to cut him B次元官网网址渟ome slack.B次元官网网址�

Belafonte responded, B次元官网网址淲hat makes you think thatB次元官网网址檚 not what IB次元官网网址檝e been doing?B次元官网网址�

Belafonte had been a major artist since the 1950s. He won a Tony Award in 1954 for his starring role in John Murray AndersonB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淎lmanacB次元官网网址� and five years later became the first Black performer to win an Emmy for the TV special B次元官网网址淭onight with Harry Belafonte.B次元官网网址�

In 1954, he co-starred with Dorothy Dandridge in the Otto Preminger-directed musical B次元官网网址淐armen Jones,B次元官网网址� a popular breakthrough for an all-Black cast. The 1957 movie B次元官网网址淚sland in the SunB次元官网网址� was banned in several Southern cities, where theater owners were threatened by the Ku Klux Klan because of the filmB次元官网网址檚 interracial romance between Belafonte and Joan Fontaine.

B次元官网网址擧illel Italie, The Associated Press

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