Want to know the best Harry Belafonte movies? How about the worst Harry Belafonte movies? Curious about Harry Belafonte box office grosses or which Harry Belafonte movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Harry Belafonte movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place.
Harry Belafonte (1927-2023) was an American singer, songwriter, actor, and social activist. One of the most successful Jamaican-American pop stars in history, he was dubbed the “King of Calypso” for popularizing the Caribbean musical style. His IMDb page shows 20 acting credits from 1953-2006. In the table below, Ultimate Movie Rankings ranks his movies in 6 different sortable columns. Television roles and one short film were not included in the rankings.
Drivel part of the page: The other day at work, I was talking with one of our websites greatest promoters, George V. , about Sidney Poitier (Sidney had a birthday on February 20th)….when Harry Belafonte’s name came up. We were trying to figure out who was older Sidney or Harry. Well a quick internet search provided the interesting trivia about the two legendary ground breaking actors. Sidney Poitier was born on February 20th 1927….and then nine days later Harry Belafonte was born on March 1st, 1927. So for his birthday we figured we would do a page on Mr. Belafonte…Happy Birthday Harry. 3/1/18.
Harry Belafonte Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort Harry Belafonte movies by movie titles and trailers
- Sort Harry Belafonte movies by co-stars of his movies.
- Sort Harry Belafonte movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Harry Belafonte movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Harry Belafonte movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations each Harry Belafonte movie received and how many Oscar® wins each Harry Belafonte movie won.
- Sort Harry Belafonte movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
Possibly Interesting About Harry Belafonte
1. Harold George Bellanfanti Jr. was born in Harlem, New York in 1927.
2. Harry Belafonte started his career in music as a club singer in New York to pay for his acting classes. The first time he appeared in front of an audience, he was backed by the Charlie Parker band, which included Charlie Parker himself, Max Roach and Miles Davis, among others.
3. Harry Belafonte first widely released single, which went on to become his “signature” song with audience participation in virtually all his live performances, was “Matilda”, recorded April 27, 1953.
4. Harry Belafonte breakthrough album was 1956’s Calypso became the first LP in the world “to sell over 1 million copies within a year”, The album is number four on Billboard‘s “Top 100 Album” list for having spent 31 weeks at number 1, 58 weeks in the top ten, and 99 weeks on the U.S. charts.
5. Harry Belafonte used his star clout to get several then-controversial film roles made. In 1957’s Island in the Sun, there are hints of an affair between Belafonte’s character and the character played by Joan Fontaine. In 1959, he starred in and produced Robert Wise’s Odds Against Tomorrow, in which he plays a bank robber uncomfortably teamed with a racist partner (Robert Ryan).
6. Harry Belafonte was offered the role of Porgy in Otto Preminger’s Porgy and Bess (1959), where he would have once again starred opposite Dorothy Dandridge (his first two films were with her), but he refused the role because he objected to its racial stereotyping.
7. Harry Belafonte has been married three times and has four children.
8. Harry Belafonte’s album “Midnight Special” (1962) featured the first-ever recorded appearance by a then young harmonica player named Bob Dylan.
9. Harry Belafonte was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Honorary Oscar® Award in 2015.
10. Check out Harry Belafonte‘s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
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We lost a great one yesterday, great movies in my childhood, great memories his movies will always be there for me to go back and looks at. Pulling out Buck and Preacher today.
Harry Belafonte has never been on the Oracle of Bacon Top 1000 Center of the Hollywood Universe list. However, he is an enigma; he connects to numerous people on the list basically to a few all star films he appeared in back in the 90’s. When I was first intrigued with the Oracle of Bacon I was intrigued as by who worked with the most actors that was on the list (Bess Flowers) or people who only appeared in 20 or so films and were on. The average person had between 2000 and 4000 actors they appeared with but there are a number of actors who have appeared with a lot more and have not been on and there have been people with under 1000 who were. Anyway here’s who Harry appeared with on the 2016 list;
8 MALCOLM MACDOWELL The Player (1992)
11 MARTIN SHEEN Bobby (2006)
18 BRUCE WILLIS The Player (1992)
32 ANTHONY HOPKINS Bobby (2006)
37 SALLY KIRKLAND The Player (1992)
38 NICK NOLTE The Player (1992)
50 STEVE BUSCEMI Kansas City (1996)
58 ELLIOTT GOULD The Player (1992)
64 JEFF GOLDBLUM The Player (1992)
66 SUSAN SARANDON The Player (1992)
77 KAREN BLACK The Player (1992)
90 JOHN CUSACK The Player (1992)
96 BURT REYNOLDS The Player (1992)
112 ROD STEIGER The Player (1992)
131 GARY BUSEY The Player (1992)
137 VINCENT D’ONOFRIO The Player (1992)
158 CHRISTIAN SLATER Bobby (2006)
161 SHARON STONE Bobby (2006)
170 SCOTT GLENN The Player (1992)
171 JULIA ROBERTS The Player (1992)
177 WILLIAM H. MACY Bobby (2006)
178 LAURENCE FISHBURNE Bobby (2006)
185 WHOOPI GOLDBERG The Player (1992)
198 DEAN STOCKWELL The Player (1992)
220 ELI WALLACH The Angel Levine (1970)
234 TOM BOWER White Man’s Burden (1995)
239 JEREMY PIVEN The Player (1992)
255 TIM ROBBINS The Player (1992)
263 HEATHER GRAHAM Bobby (2006)
269 BRION JAMES The Player (1992)
271 ROBERT WAGNER The Player (1992)
292 SPENCER GARRETT (I) BOBBY (2006)
297 FRED WARD The Player (1992)
308 TOM WRIGHT White Man’s Burden (1995)
352 GINA GERSHON The Player (1992)
382 ANJELICA HUSTON The Player (1992)
393 ELIJAH WOOD Bobby (2006)
409 JOHN TRAVOLTA White Man’s Burden (1995)
413 JAMES COBURN The Player (1992)
437 MICHAEL BOWEN The Player (1992)
445 DERMOT MULRONEY KANSAS CITY (1996)
473 MIRANDA RICHARDSON Kansas City (1996)
537 JENNIFER JASON LEIGH Kansas City (1996)
565 JOHN H. TOBIN BOBBY (2006)
609 LOUISE FLETCHER The Player (1992)
620 ANDIE MACDOWELL The Player (1992)
630 SETH GREEN WHITE MAN’S BURDEN (1995)
650 MIMI ROGERS The Player (1992)
652 GRETA SCACCHI The Player (1992)
673 PAUL DOOLEY The Player (1992)
684 PETER FALK The Player (1992)
685 PETER GALLAGHER The Player (1992)
693 RICHARD E. GRANT The Player (1992)
694 SHIA LABEOUF Bobby (2006)
706 SALLY KELLERMAN The Player (1992)
744 DAVID ALAN GRIER The Player (1992)
750 ROBERT CARRADINE The Player (1992)
781 SHELLEY WINTERS Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
786 MICHAEL MURPHY Kansas City (1996)
807 TERI GARR The Player (1992)
833 DEMI MOORE Bobby (2006)
853 JACOB VARGAS BOBBY (2006)
873 RANDALL BATINKOFF THE PLAYER (1992)
957 DAVID KRUMHOLTZ BOBBY (2006)
992 BERT REMSEN White Man’s Burden (1995)
The following people on the 2000 list have since fallen off but appeared with Harry in a film;
52 JAMES MASON Island in the Sun (1957)
58 JACK LEMMON The Player (1992)
75 CAMERON MITCHELL Buck and the Preacher (1972)
160 ROBERT RYAN Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
231 SIDNEY POITIER Buck and the Preacher (1972)
231 SIDNEY POITIER Uptown Saturday Night (1974)
251 MEL FERRER The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959)
302 RICHARD ANDERSON The Player (1992)
318 RICHARD BRIGHT Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
320 ROSCOE LEE BROWNE Uptown Saturday Night (1974)
373 RICHARD PRYOR Uptown Saturday Night (1974)
390 BUCK HENRY The Player (1992)
446 RAY WALSTON The Player (1992)
456 JACK RILEY The Player (1992)
473 RENE AUBERJONOIS The Player (1992)
634 JOAN COLLINS Island in the Sun (1957)
775 DINA MERRILL The Player (1992)
795 STEPHEN BOYD Island in the Sun (1957)
967 STEVE JAMES The Player (1992)
Harry has appeared with 15 Oscar winners (sort of amazing);
ANJELICA HUSTON The Player (1992)
ANTHONY HOPKINS Bobby (2006)
CHER The Player (1992)
GLORIA GRAHAME Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
JACK LEMMON The Player (1992)
JAMES COBURN The Player (1992)
JOAN FONTAINE Island in the Sun (1957)
JULIA ROBERTS The Player (1992)
LOUISE FLETCHER The Player (1992)
ROD STEIGER The Player (1992)
SHELLEY WINTERS Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
SIDNEY POITIER Buck and the Preacher (1972)
SIDNEY POITIER Uptown Saturday Night (1974)
SUSAN SARANDON The Player (1992)
TIM ROBBINS The Player (1992)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG The Player (1992)