Belafonte recalls career in song, activism

NEW YORK, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Harry Belafonte says he thought about his late friend Marlon Brando when he agreed to make a video memoir of his storied singing career for U.S. television.

HBO's "Sing Your Song" recounts Belafonte's career, which hit its stride during the turmoil of the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War, and sets the record straight in a way he says Brando failed to do.

"When Marlon Brando died, it was the loss of a friend and of a history," Belafonte told Parade magazine. "Many things he'd done were never revealed, and I felt that if people knew more about what celebrities like him did, they might see us as examples of what they, too, could do."

"Sing Your Song" premiers Monday and follows the recently released autobiography "My Song."

The New York Post said Saturday "Sing Your Song" includes interviews with other stars of the era, many of whom were active in the civil rights cause along with Belafonte. The Harlem-born World War II veteran was credited with building a bridge in the early 60s between Martin Luther King Jr. and President Kennedy's White House.

Belafonte, 84, said he doesn't miss performing and doesn't see himself re-emerging on a comeback tour. "A few years ago, I was in Germany playing to some 20,000 people and it just hit me: This is the time to step away," he told Parade.