Harry Belafonte was inspired to document his charity work for TV after seeing how much his friend Marlon Brando's philanthropic effects went unnoticed
Harry Belafonte was inspired to document his charity work for TV after seeing how much his friend Marlon Brando's philanthropic effects went unnoticed by the public.
The calypso star turned activist agreed to let cameras into his life for new documentary film Sing Your Song to chronicle his lengthy career and work with civil rights activists.
Belfonte admits he wants fans to see the other side of his legacy as so much of Brando's charity work went unnoticed and are simply forgotten memories.
He tells WENN: "What motivated me to do this documentary was Marlon’s death. He and I had grown up together. We lived a lot of life together and when he passed away, beyond losing a very good friend, I also know that America lost not only a great artist but someone who had touched deeply the search for our humanity as a society.
"He’d given himself to many causes that represented the struggle for those who are underserved and undernourished and our country and our world knew very little about that part of his life."
He admits it took him a while to put the plan into action and took his daughter's persistent nagging for him to finally tell his story.
He says, "My daughter Gina was the nag of the family. She constantly put upon me that I should really document my story and that I should tell it, and my reluctance to delve into that was because I felt it was somewhat self serving.
"On Marlon’s death (in July, 2004), I saw opportunity to reach in to try to tell the story of Marlon and a number of other people who are in the film to help guide the viewer through some corners and twists and turns that may not be known to them."