MovieChat Forums > Peter Gunn (1958) Discussion > Episode: Sing A Song of Murder - Harry B...

Episode: Sing A Song of Murder - Harry Belafonte in this?

posted 13 years ago by CaperGuy
7 replies | jump to latest

I just watched the Peter Gunn episode "Sing A Song of Murder" on RTV. Diahann Carroll was gorgeous and she sounded great in the role of the lounge singer Dina Wright.

It seems that her husband was played by Harry Belafonte but he is uncredited. I glimpsed his face at the end as he was captured by Peter Gunn and Lt. Jacoby for trying to murder his wife. His face was only shown clearly for about two seconds but I really think it was him.

Did anyone else notice this and can anyone confirm that Harry Belafonte was actually in this episode?

As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. - Proverbs 23:7

[–] nikkiweir 13 years ago

That is not Belafonte, but James Edwards, who had a nice busy career in the late 50s and the 60s. I imagine near the top of his portfolio he was described as "a Harry Belafonte type" -had you noticed that many of the featured regulars and guests on this show are "types" like that, from Craig Stevens down the line? One of the witty things about the show, at the same time that it gave these often excellect players a chance to show their stuff (and no doubt helped keep production costs down).

Anyway, James Edwards also had roles in The Caine Mutiny, The Manchurian Candidate, Patton, and The Member of the Wedding as well as many tv roles. He often was cast as military type men, no doubt because of his very sharp appearance. He was a real trailblazer.

_____________________________________
"The bonsai: the ultimate miniature." —Will Hayward, Twin Peaks.

[–] CaperGuy 13 years ago

Nikki,

Thanks for the info on James Edwards. I was not familiar with his background but his face was eerily familiar from his other character roles. Edwards was one of those actors whose character work remains very memorable even as his name is somewhat less memorable. He is indeed a Belafonte type.

Unfortunately, I read that he died early at age 51. I see what you mean about his being a trail blazer. Taken together, his roles were ground-breaking for his era.

Thanks again for calling this out for me!

As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. - Proverbs 23:7

[–] rogerscorpion 10 years ago

Edwards had a few notably visible roles.

Carpe Noctem!

[–] mister-mike 13 years ago

>His face was only shown clearly for about two seconds but I really think it was him.

His face was also shown at the beginning of the show where Peter Gunn encounters him in the cemetery where his wife was supposedly being "buried."

[–] telegonus 10 years ago

James Edwards basically has the leading role in the landmark 1949 Home Of the Brave, in which he plays a neurasthenic soldier suffering from among other things the bigotry of other soldiers. Excellent film, and Edward is outstanding in it, doesn't get star billing (African-Americans almost never did back then) but he owns the movie. Second best peformance: Frank Lovejoy's.

[–] stargzer 9 years ago

James Edwards also appears in a major role as "Joe Morgan" opposite Arthur Kennedy as "Larry Nevins" in Bright Victory (1951). Both are blind veterans being trained to return to society at a hospital in Pennsylvania (based on a real-life hospital in Valley Forge, PA). The film mostly deals with Nevins' recovery, dealing with his parents' and fiancée's attitudes Florida, and finding a new love when his fiancée decides she can't deal with his blindness (for a different take on the disabled vet and his fiancée, see Homer Parish's (Harold Russel) relationship with his finacee Wilma Cameron (Cathy O'Donnell) in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)). Nevins, from Florida, with the racist attitude of his place and times, forms a fast friendship with Morgan, not realizing that Morgan is black. When Nevins returns to the hospital from a home visit in Florida he uses the N-word, and everybody gets quiet all of a sudden. He eventually repairs the relationship with Morgan. This must have been quite a story line, with Blacks portrayed as human, back in 1951.

[–] telegonus 9 years ago

Thanks. I've heard of Bright Victory, have never seen it, didn't know that Edward was in it.