Melvin Van Peebles

Known for ActingBorn 1932-08-21Died 2021-09-21Chicago, Illinois, USA

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!.Read more

Movies & web series

René Vautier, le rebelle

Sunlight

Hollywood Black

SMUT

The Sophisticated Gents

Hallmark Hall of Fame

Sweet Black Film: The Birth of the Black Hero in Hollywood

Homicide: Life on the Street

Bellyful

Living Single

976-STUD

The Day They Came to Arrest the Book

The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975

The Outer Limits

Girlfriends

How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It)

Sex: The Revolution

Satchmo: The Life of Louis Armstrong

Dream On

Making 'Do the Right Thing'

Just an Old Sweet Song

Wattstax

500 Francs

Confessions of a Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha

Three Pick-Up Men for Herrick

Baadasssss!

Oscar Micheaux: The Superhero of Black Filmmaking

Last Action Hero

The Shining

Panther

Calm at Sunset

Greased Lightning

The Story of a Three-Day Pass

The Black List: Volume Two

BaadAsssss Cinema

Watermelon Man

Peeples

Don't Play Us Cheap

Blackout

Boomerang

Hard Luck

True Identity

The Hebrew Hammer

Classified X

Slogan

Taking Care of Terrific

Sonny Spoon

Riot