The legendary Melvin Van Peebles has passed away. The influential, multi-hyphenate playwright and father of actor and director Mario Van Peebles (New Jack City) leaves behind a strong legacy. His film Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song was an early blaxploitation classic.
Often referred to as “The Godfather of Black Cinema”, The Hollywood Reporter, and many celebrities honored his bad ass legacy.
Criterion Collection:
Ava DuVernay:
iHeartRadio:
Twitter influencer Ike Moses offered something more controversial and thought provoking:
Wikipedia offers an extensive list of his works:
- (As “Melvin Van”) The Big Heart, San Francisco: Fearon, 1957. With photographs by Ruth Bernhard, a book about life on San Francisco’s cable cars. “A cable car is a big heart with people for blood. The people pump on and off — if you think of it like that it is pretty simple” (p. 21).
- Un Ours pour le F.B.I. (1964); A Bear for the F.B.I., Trident, 1968.
- Un Américain en enfer (1965); The True American, Doubleday, 1976.
- Le Chinois du XIV (1966) (short stories)
- La Fête à Harlem (Harlem Party) (1967) (novel)
- La Permission (1967)
- Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, Lancer Books, New York, 1971.
- Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death, Bantam, New York, 1973.
- Don’t Play Us Cheap: A Harlem Party, Bantam Books, New York, 1973.
- Just an Old Sweet Song, Ballantine, New York, 1976.
- Bold Money: A New Way to Play the Options Market, Warner Books, New York, 1986, ISBN 0-446-51340-7 (nonfiction)
- Melvin and Mario Van Peebles: No Identity Crisis, A Fireside Book, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1990.
- Panther, Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1995.
Filmography
Peebles’ 1971 film Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song received acclaim from black rights groups for its political resonance with the black struggle and grossed $10 million.
As director
- Three Pickup Men for Herrick (short, 1957); also writer and composer
- Sunlight (short, 1957); also writer, composer and producer
- Cinq cent balles (short, 1961); also writer and composer
- The Story of a Three-Day Pass (also known as La Permission, 1967); also writer, from his novel La Permission, and composer
- Watermelon Man (1970); also composer
- Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971); also actor, writer, composer, co-producer and editor
- Don’t Play Us Cheap (1973); also writer (from his book Harlem Party and stage musical Don’t Play Us Cheap) and composer
- Identity Crisis (1989) also actor, producer and editor
- Vroom Vroom Vroooom (segment from Tales of Erotica, also known as Erotic Tales, 1996); also writer, composer, producer and editor
- Gang in Blue (1996) co-director, actor and producer
- Le Conte du ventre plein (also known as Bellyful, 2000); also writer, composer and delegate producer
- Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha (2008)
- Lilly Done the Zampoughi Every Time I Pulled Her Coattail (2012); also editor, performer
Other writing credits
- Slogan (Pierre Grimblat, 1969) screenwriter
- Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death (1971) Broadway musical book and score
- Just an Old Sweet Song (also known as Down Home, Robert Ellis Miller, 1976) made for television; screenwriter and theme song
- Greased Lightning (Michael Schultz, 1977) screenwriter
- The Sophisticated Gents (Harry Falk, 1981) made for television; actor, screenwriter, song “Greased Lightning” and producer
- The Day They Came to Arrest the Book (Gilbert Moses, 1987) made for television; screenwriter
- Panther (Mario Van Peebles, 1995) based on his novel Panther, screenwriter, actor and producer
- Melvin Van Peebles’ Classified X (Mark Daniels, 1998) documentary; screenwriter, actor and executive producer
- Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song: The Musical (2008) writer, singer
- Unmitigated Truth: Life, a Lavatory, Loves, and Ladies (2009) writer, performer
As himself
- Unstoppable (2005)
- How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (2005)
Other acting-only credits
- O.C. and Stiggs (1987) as Bob ‘Wino Bob’
- Jaws: The Revenge (1987) as Mr. Witherspoon
- Taking Care of Terrific (1987) (television film) as ‘Hawk’
- Sonny Spoon (1988) (television series) as Mel Spoon
- Boomerang (1992) as Editor
- Posse (1993) as Joe ‘Papa Joe’
- Terminal Velocity (1994) as Noble
- Fist of the North Star (1995) as Asher
- Living Single (1996) as Warner Devant
- The Shining (1997) (miniseries) as Dick Hallorann
- The Hebrew Hammer (2003) as Sweetback
- BlacKout (2007) as George
- Redemption Road (2010) as Elmo
- We the Party (2012) as ‘Big D’
- Armed (2018) as Grandpa V
Plays
- The Hostage (Dutch National Theatre Tour, writer, 1964)
- Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death (writer, 1972)
- Don’t Play Us Cheap (writer, 1972)
- Out There by Your Lonesome (one-man play, 1973)
- Waltz of the Stork (actor, writer, 1982)
- Champeen (musical, writer, 1983)
Discography
Studio albums
- Brer Soul (1968)
- Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death (1970)
- As Serious as a Heart-Attack (1974)
- What the….You Mean I Can’t Sing?! (1974)
- Ghetto Gothic (1995)
- Nahh… Nahh Mofo (2012)[39][40]
- The Last Transmission (2014, with The Heliocentrics)
Compilations
- X-Rated By an All-White Jury (1997) – including Brer Soul, Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death and As Serious as a Heart-Attack
Soundtrack albums[edit]
- Watermelon Man (1970)
- Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971)
- Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death (1972)
- Don’t Play Us Cheap (1973)
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