“The Banana Boat Song” was co-written by actor Alan Arkin… Belafonte studied drama in New York in the same class of young actors as Marlon Brando, Rod Steiger and Walter Matthau… His daughter, Shari Belafonte, is a model and actress (she starred in the 1980s TV series Hotel)… Belafonte produced the song, “We Are the World,” a hit that aided charity in 1985… In 1968 Belafonte and singer Petula Clark were at the center of a controversy because during the taping of her television special she briefly touched his arm during a duet. TV sponsors thought viewers — especially in the American southeast — would respond negatively to a white woman touching a black man. Clark and Belafonte stood their ground and the special was aired as originally recorded; the controversy only guaranteed a wider audience.