Shari Belafonte-Harper: Staying up late to watch “Hotel”

Shari Belafonte in the opening credits of the television drama "Hotel" in the '80s.

Source: https://www.imdb.com/

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Her hair is whiter now, but other than that Shari Belafonte-Harper looked pretty much exactly the same when I saw her recently on “The Morning Show”, as she did when she was reception manager Julie Gilette at the St. Gregory in San Francisco in “Hotel” back in the 1980s.

The end credits revealed that gone was the Harper in her last name and she is back to Shari Belafonte, but it was definitely her and, 40 years after playing her signature role in the 1980s ensemble drama, Shari Belafonte is still acting.

Dawn of the decade
She initially was known as the daughter of the legend Harry Belafonte, until she broke out first as a fashion model then an actor. She had guest starring roles in “The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo”; “Trapper John, M.D.”; and “Diff’rent Strokes”.

She made her big screen debut in a 1982 Canadian movie called “If You Could See What I Hear”. It starred Canadian actor Marc Singer as Tom Sullivan, a man who battled blindness to become a national wrestling champion, singer, song-writer, author and speaker.

Interestingly, I never saw the movie, although I saw it advertised on Channel 13, but I have read the book, which is inspiring.

Checking in at the St. Gregory Hotel
Belafonte had caught the eye of producer Aaron Spelling where he considered her for the role of Julie Rogers on “Charlie’s Angels”, before casting Tanya Roberts. He also cast her for a pilot he produced called “Velvet”, which did not go far.

Then he cast her in the show that not only brought her into living rooms across Canada and the United States, but would be the role she is best known for.

She played Julie Gilette for the entire run of “Hotel” from 1983 to 1988, spanning a total of 115 episodes.

While she was on “Hotel”, she continued to take guest-starring in roles in shows such as “The Love Boat”; “Matt Houston”; “Battle of the Network Stars”; and a Perry Mason TV movie called, “The Case of the All-Star Assasin”.

“Hotel” finished in 1988. That was the same year as her first marriage ended, and she lost the hyphenated Harper at the end of her name.

The years after
Besides “The Morning Show”, I recall seeing Shari Belafonte in an episode of “911”. In reality, she has continued acting since the end of “Hotel” in a variety of roles such as “Beyond Reality”; “Sonic the Hedgehog”; “The Heidi Chronicles”; “Babylon 5: Thirdspace”; “The District”; “Nip/Tuck”; “General Hospital”; “Station 19” and more.

Parting thoughts
Shari Belafonte, I still have trouble dropping the Harper, was never Harry Belafonte’s daughter to me. Instead she will always be Julie Gilette, working behind a desk at the St. Gregory Hotel, wearing a stylish red vest. She was a calming influence at a place that was often full of drama.

When “Hotel” debuted on peasant vision in the fall of 1983, I was in Grade 9. Channel 13 aired it at 10 p.m. on a school night, Tuesday or Wednesday. I had a TV in my room and, when I wanted to watch something late, which was after 10 p.m., I had to keep the volume low and crowd in close to the TV, while I sat on my water bed.

“Hotel” was one of numerous shows I used to stay up late to watch.

Seeing Shari Belafonte reminds me of that time, when 10 p.m. was late, the TV had no remote control, and if you didn’t watch the show live, you may never get another chance to see it.