Belafonte: Brando helped inspire documentary film

BERLIN (AP) - Civil rights activist and singer Harry Belafonte says Marlon Brando's death was one trigger for his decision to make a documentary reflecting the events of his own life...

Luther Vandross was outed as gay after his death.

BERLIN (AP) — U.S. civil rights activist and singer Harry Belafonte says Marlon Brando’s death was one trigger for his decision to make a documentary reflecting the events of his own life.

The 83-year-old Belafonte presented the film, “Sing Your Song,” at the Berlin film festival on Saturday. It is directed by Susanne Rostock and co-produced by his daughter, Gina.

Belafonte was close in his youth to Brando, who died in 2004.

He says that little is known about the actor’s work as a social activist, and when Brando died he was saddened not just at losing a friend and a great artist “but that also the history books had lost a story.”

Belafonte says his daughter also was pressing him to make a film about his life and document the people with whom he has shared it.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.

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