Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthdate
1932-08-21
Day of Death
2021-09-21
Place of Birth
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Melvin Van Peebles
Biography
Melvin Van Peebles (born Melvin Peebles; August 21, 1932 – September 21, 2021) was an American actor, filmmaker, writer, and composer. His feature film debut, The Story of a Three-Day Pass (1967), was based on his own French-language novel La Permission and was shot in France, as it was difficult for a black American director to get work at the time. The film won an award at the San Francisco International Film Festival which gained him the interest of Hollywood studios, leading to his American feature debut Watermelon Man, in 1970. Eschewing further overtures from Hollywood, he used the successes he had so far to bankroll his work as an independent filmmaker. In 1971, he released his best-known work, creating and starring in the film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, which led to the creation of the blaxploitation genre. although critic Roger Ebert did not consider this example of Van Peebles' work to be an exploitation film. He followed this up with the musical, Don't Play Us Cheap, based on his own stage play, and continued to make films, write novels and stage plays in English and in French through the next several decades; his final films include the French-language film Le Conte du ventre plein (2000) and the absurdist film Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha (2008). His son, filmmaker and actor Mario Van Peebles, appeared in several of his works and portrayed him in the 2003 biographical film Baadasssss!.
Filmography (46)
Sweet Black Film: The Birth of the Black Hero in Hollywood
2022
Oscar Micheaux: The Superhero of Black Filmmaking
2021
Armed
2018
Peeples
2013
Salty Dog Blues
2012
Redemption Road
2011
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
2011
Infiltrating Hollywood: The Rise and Fall of the Spook Who Sat by the Door
2011
American Swing
2009
Directors on Directing
2009
The Black List: Volume Two
2009Confessions of a Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
2008
Blackout
2007
Hard Luck
2006
