Melvin Van Peebles, the filmmaker praised as the godfather of modern Black cinema and a trailblazer in American independent movies, died on Tuesday at his home in Manhattan. He was 89.
His death was announced by his son Mario Van Peebles, the actor and director.
A Renaissance man whose work spanned books, theater and music, Mr. Van Peebles is best known for his third feature film, “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song,” which drew mixed reviews when it was released in 1971, ignited intense debate and became a national hit. The hero, Sweetback, starred in a sex show at a brothel, and the movie sizzled with explosive violence, explicit sex and righteous antagonism toward the white power structure. It was dedicated to “all the Black brothers and sisters who have had enough of The Man.”
Mr. Van Peebles’s fiercely independent legacy can be seen in some of the most notable Black films of the past half-century, from Spike Lee’s “She’s Gotta Have It” (1986) to Barry Jenkins’s “Moonlight” (2016). His death arrives at a moment when Black storytelling has belatedly become ascendant in Hollywood.
“I didn’t even know I had a legacy,” he told The New York Times in 2010, when asked about his reputation and influence. “I do what I want to do.”
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Not only did Mr. Van Peebles write, direct and score “Sweet Sweetback’s” and play the lead role; he also raised the money to produce it. The film demonstrated that a Black director could convey a highly personal vision to a broad audience. “For the first time in cinematic history in America, a movie speaks out of an undeniable Black consciousness,” Sam Washington wrote in The Chicago Sun-Times.
In addition to making movies, Mr. Van Peebles published novels, in French as well as in English; wrote two Broadway musicals and produced them simultaneously; and wrote and performed spoken-word albums that many have called forebears of rap.
Over the course of his life he was also a cable-car driver in San Francisco, a portrait painter in Mexico City, a street performer in Paris, a stock options trader in New York, the navigator of an Air Force bomber, a postal worker, a visual artist and, by his own account, a very successful gigolo.
Mr. Van Peebles grandly called himself “the Rosa Parks of Black cinema.” Along with Gordon Parks, whose 1971 film “Shaft” lionized a streetwise Black detective, he was among the first Black filmmakers to reach a wide general audience.
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“Sweetback,” “Shaft” and numerous knockoffs released throughout the 1970s were a response to a new militancy among young urban Black people. The movies’ casts were mainly Black, and the music was mainly funk and soul. Racial put-downs of whites were common, as were sex, violence and critiques of capitalism and police brutality. Many displayed a slick coolness. Some romanticized outlaws.
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Some critics complained that the genre perpetuated racist myths and stereotypes. After “Super Fly” — the story of a cocaine dealer directed by Mr. Parks’s son Gordon Jr. — was released in 1972, the term “blaxploitation” (a combination of “Black” and “exploitation”) came into general use. The N.A.A.C.P. joined with other civil rights groups to form the Coalition Against Blaxploitation.
In an interview with The New York Times Magazine in 1972, Mr. Van Peebles countered that he was challenging the “false Black images” that white people used “to confuse, drain and colonize our minds.”
Melvin Van Peebles was born on the South Side of Chicago on Aug. 21, 1932. Van was originally his middle name; he later made it part of his last name.
The son of a tailor, he grew up in Phoenix, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. He attended the historically black West Virginia State College (now University) before transferring to Ohio Wesleyan University, where he joined the R.O.T.C. and majored in English literature.
After graduating at age 20 in 1954, he joined the Air Force, becoming a navigator on a B-47 bomber for three years. While in the service he married Maria Marx, a German actress.
After his discharge Mr. Van Peebles could not get hired by a commercial airline, so the newlyweds went to Mexico City, where their son Mario was born. They later had a daughter, Megan, who died in 2006. In addition to Mario, he is survived by another son, Max; a daughter, Marguerite Van Peebles; and 11 grandchildren.
Mr. Van Peebles painted portraits in Mexico before moving to San Francisco, where he worked in the Post Office and drove cable cars. The cable car experience inspired his first book, “The Big Heart” (1957).
He made several short films in San Francisco, then moved on to Hollywood to pursue his cinematic dream. But the only job he could find there was as an elevator operator.
Emigrating to the Netherlands, he studied astronomy — a personal fascination — at the University of Amsterdam and acting at the Dutch National Theater. His marriage ended in divorce, and he hitchhiked to Paris. He sang for coins outside theaters, wrote magazine articles about crime and helped edit a humor magazine. He lived, he later recalled, on $600 a year.
Mr. Van Peebles told People magazine in 1982 that he had supplemented this meager income by ingratiating himself with rich women. “I had a lady for each day of the week,” he said. “I only had to worry about my back giving out.”
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His death was announced by his son Mario Van Peebles, the actor and director.
A Renaissance man whose work spanned books, theater and music, Mr. Van Peebles is best known for his third feature film, “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song,” which drew mixed reviews when it was released in 1971, ignited intense debate and became a national hit. The hero, Sweetback, starred in a sex show at a brothel, and the movie sizzled with explosive violence, explicit sex and righteous antagonism toward the white power structure. It was dedicated to “all the Black brothers and sisters who have had enough of The Man.”
Mr. Van Peebles’s fiercely independent legacy can be seen in some of the most notable Black films of the past half-century, from Spike Lee’s “She’s Gotta Have It” (1986) to Barry Jenkins’s “Moonlight” (2016). His death arrives at a moment when Black storytelling has belatedly become ascendant in Hollywood.
“I didn’t even know I had a legacy,” he told The New York Times in 2010, when asked about his reputation and influence. “I do what I want to do.”
Advertisement
Continue reading the main story
Not only did Mr. Van Peebles write, direct and score “Sweet Sweetback’s” and play the lead role; he also raised the money to produce it. The film demonstrated that a Black director could convey a highly personal vision to a broad audience. “For the first time in cinematic history in America, a movie speaks out of an undeniable Black consciousness,” Sam Washington wrote in The Chicago Sun-Times.
In addition to making movies, Mr. Van Peebles published novels, in French as well as in English; wrote two Broadway musicals and produced them simultaneously; and wrote and performed spoken-word albums that many have called forebears of rap.
Over the course of his life he was also a cable-car driver in San Francisco, a portrait painter in Mexico City, a street performer in Paris, a stock options trader in New York, the navigator of an Air Force bomber, a postal worker, a visual artist and, by his own account, a very successful gigolo.
Mr. Van Peebles grandly called himself “the Rosa Parks of Black cinema.” Along with Gordon Parks, whose 1971 film “Shaft” lionized a streetwise Black detective, he was among the first Black filmmakers to reach a wide general audience.
Advertisement
Continue reading the main story
“Sweetback,” “Shaft” and numerous knockoffs released throughout the 1970s were a response to a new militancy among young urban Black people. The movies’ casts were mainly Black, and the music was mainly funk and soul. Racial put-downs of whites were common, as were sex, violence and critiques of capitalism and police brutality. Many displayed a slick coolness. Some romanticized outlaws.
Sign up for the Movies Update Newsletter A weekly roundup of movie reviews, news, stars and awards-season analysis. Get it sent to your inbox.
Some critics complained that the genre perpetuated racist myths and stereotypes. After “Super Fly” — the story of a cocaine dealer directed by Mr. Parks’s son Gordon Jr. — was released in 1972, the term “blaxploitation” (a combination of “Black” and “exploitation”) came into general use. The N.A.A.C.P. joined with other civil rights groups to form the Coalition Against Blaxploitation.
In an interview with The New York Times Magazine in 1972, Mr. Van Peebles countered that he was challenging the “false Black images” that white people used “to confuse, drain and colonize our minds.”
Melvin Van Peebles was born on the South Side of Chicago on Aug. 21, 1932. Van was originally his middle name; he later made it part of his last name.
The son of a tailor, he grew up in Phoenix, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. He attended the historically black West Virginia State College (now University) before transferring to Ohio Wesleyan University, where he joined the R.O.T.C. and majored in English literature.
After graduating at age 20 in 1954, he joined the Air Force, becoming a navigator on a B-47 bomber for three years. While in the service he married Maria Marx, a German actress.
After his discharge Mr. Van Peebles could not get hired by a commercial airline, so the newlyweds went to Mexico City, where their son Mario was born. They later had a daughter, Megan, who died in 2006. In addition to Mario, he is survived by another son, Max; a daughter, Marguerite Van Peebles; and 11 grandchildren.Mr. Van Peebles painted portraits in Mexico before moving to San Francisco, where he worked in the Post Office and drove cable cars. The cable car experience inspired his first book, “The Big Heart” (1957).
He made several short films in San Francisco, then moved on to Hollywood to pursue his cinematic dream. But the only job he could find there was as an elevator operator.
Emigrating to the Netherlands, he studied astronomy — a personal fascination — at the University of Amsterdam and acting at the Dutch National Theater. His marriage ended in divorce, and he hitchhiked to Paris. He sang for coins outside theaters, wrote magazine articles about crime and helped edit a humor magazine. He lived, he later recalled, on $600 a year.
Mr. Van Peebles told People magazine in 1982 that he had supplemented this meager income by ingratiating himself with rich women. “I had a lady for each day of the week,” he said. “I only had to worry about my back giving out.”
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Melvin Van Peebles, Champion of New Black Cinema, Dies at 89 (Published 2021)
A fertile creative force, he wrote fiction and musicals but is best known for a breakthrough movie that heralded the genre known as blaxploitation.
www.nytimes.com