Inside Harry Belafonte's married lives: Entertainment trailblazer tied the knot three times
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: The King of Calypso Harry Belafonte died at 96 years old on Tuesday, April 25, 2023. Hollywood's trailblazing actor-singer and civil rights activist died of congestive heart failure in his New York home with his third wife of 15 years Pamela Frank "by his side."
The Jamaican-American singer had a remarkable career that spanned over six decades, during which he was renowned for his musical talents and humanitarian efforts. Belafonte's private life was also equally extraordinary, as he was married three times and had four children. So, let's get to know from the late Belafonte if the third time really is a charm.
RELATED ARTICLES
Harry Belafonte: 2023 net worth of Calypso legend and legacy he left behind
Harry Belafonte's first wife Marguerite Belafonte
On June 18, 1948, Belafonte tied the knot with Marguerite (nee Byrd), whom he met while serving in the Navy in Virginia. During a 1996 profile of the 'Day-O' (The Banana Boat Song) singer, The New Yorker described the pair as being an "odd couple" because they came from different social class backgrounds with Marguerite being a sorority sister from a middle-class family which made it difficult for her to understand her husband. Marguerite once said, "Our courtship was one long argument over racial issues."
Before marrying Belafonte, Marguerite briefly acted and even appeared as a hostess in the 1959 film 'Night of the Quarter Moon'. She studied at the Sorbonne and the University of Heidelberg. Later, the couple had two daughters together, Adrienne and Shari Belafonte. However, their relationship began to deteriorate when Marguerite was pregnant with Shari in 1954. During this time, Belafonte was filming the movie 'Carmen Jones' and had already met dancer Julie Robinson on set, who would become his next wife. Marguerite discovered love letters from Robinson to Belafonte, after she birthed Shari, which led to their divorce.
In a 2022 interview, Shari revealed that her father was not very involved in her life after her parents separated. "He was not the warm and fuzzy father figure depicted in early TV shows. But then, who really was? My parents separated when my mother was pregnant with me, so I did not grow up with him in our household," she recalled. "My grandmother and mother raised me, and they would be talking about 'Harry' — 'Harry's coming over to pick up Shari at whatever time.' So 90 percent of the time, I refer to him as 'Harry'," reported People.
Belafonte's oldest child, Adrienne, also weighed in on her parents' marriage, saying, "Mom had the drive and focus of many Black contemporaries. She came from a family that was striving to be in the upper echelon of Black society, which then moves you into the middle echelon of White society. For Dad, it was about changing all of society." In a 1996 interview with The New Yorker, Marguerite discussed her relationship with Belafonte, saying that they were living lives at odds with each other. She said, "I just found the show-biz world to be shallow, and false. And, more and more, that was his whole life." Marguerite died in 1998 at the age of 74.
Harry Belafonte's second marriage to Julie Robinson
After the divorce from Marguerite, Belafonte married his co-star and second wife, Julie Robinson in 1957. Together they had two children, Gina and David. The pair met on the set of the 1954 film 'Carmen Jones' and at the time Robinson was dating Marlon Brando but soon after she began writing love letters to Belafonte that were discovered by his first wife, Marguerite.
Belafonte attempted to keep his divorce and new marriage to Robinson away from the public eye while filming his 1957 movie Island in the Sun, but eventually, the news broke out. However Marguerite and Robinson never shared a bitter feud and in fact became "good friends," according to The New Yorker. The outlet added in its 1996 profile, "The children of Belafonte's second marriage, David and Gina, are genuinely close to those of his first."
Although after 47 years of marriage, 77 years old Belafonte and Robinson divorced in 2004. In his 2011 memoir My Song: A Memoir, he said of his second marriage, "I felt angry and trapped, but then I'd always felt that way. Trapped by my mother, by poverty ... by the responsibility I felt for the global poor."
Harry Belafonte's third marriage to Pamela Frank
In 2008, Belafonte tied the knot for the third and final time with photographer Pamela Frank. She has two children, Sarah and Lindsey, from a previous relationship. Unlike his previous marriages, Belafonte was tight-lipped about his relationship with Frank and kept it private. Although the smitten pair were spotted at several events, including the NAACP Image Awards in 2013 and the opening night of Michael Moore on Broadway in 2017, as per the source. Frank also accompanied Belafonte when he received the National Order of the Legion of Honour from the French government in 2021.