Harry Belafonte Interview 1976 (Part 2 of 2) Brian Linehan's City Lights

In this interview from 1976, Harry Belafonte talks about his early life and career: growing up in New York City and Jamaica, serving in World War II and talking drama classes on the GI Bill, performing in jazz clubs in Midtown Manhattan, meeting Sidney Poitier at the American Negro Theater and choosing early projects that "had nothing to do with art" and were made "for social and political reasons," and making choices for art as he got older and more established as a performer and producer.

He also talks about the difference between playing in Sudbury, Ontario and Las Vegas, Nevada, social activism and lending his name to social causes, his relationships with Martin Luther King Jr and John F Kennedy Jr, working with the civil rights movement and the White House to help the two better understand each other, and his current involvement with the civil rights of the Native American Indians in the United States.

From 1974 to 2000, Canada’s Brian Linehan conducted thousands of in-depth interviews with the greatest actors and directors from over 60 years of film history. His programs City Lights and Linehan have not been seen since they first aired and are now available for the first time for licensing. Linehan, a stylishly gifted broadcaster, meticulously did all his own research and that, coupled with his knowledge and passion about film and filmmaking, puts him in a class all by himself.

With 20,000 hours of music footage spanning 90 years and thousands of hours of in-depth interviews with the 20th century’s icons of Film and Television, Politics, Comedy, Literature, Art, Science, Fashion and Sports, Reelin’ In The Years Productions is now the World’s Premier Source For Footage Of Musical Artists, Entertainers & History Makers.
http://reelinintheyears.com

Note: these clips are available on YouTube for producers, directors, researchers and clearance companies for potential use in their projects. Our website on the screen is to protect the footage from being used without our consent and so industry professionals can find us to properly license the footage.

Brian Linehan, who passed away in 2004, left his entire estate to The Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation to provide training, work opportunities and promotion for young actors of exceptional talent. All of the income of his Foundation is donated to not-for-profit institutions for that purpose. In the decade since his death, recipients of the Foundation’s support have included extraordinary young actors affiliated with the Canadian Film Centre, The National Screen Institute of Canada, the Stratford Shakespearean Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival, which, since Brian's passing, has preserved and housed Brian's personal archive and tape library.