Melvin Van Peebles, the groundbreaking playwright, musician, and movie director whose work ushered in the “Blaxploitation” wave of the 1970s and influenced filmmakers long after, has died. He was 89.
His family said in a statement Wednesday that Van Peebles, father of the actor-director Mario Van Peebles, died Tuesday evening at his home in Manhattan.
“In an unparalleled career distinguished by relentless innovation, boundless curiosity and spiritual empathy, Melvin Van Peebles made an indelible mark on the international cultural landscape through his films, novels, plays, and music,” the statement from the Criterion Collection read.
His son, who is 64, expressed gratitude for his late father’s contributions to the cinematic industry.
“Dad knew that Black images matter. If a picture is worth a thousand words, what was a movie worth? We want to be the success we see; thus, we need to see ourselves being free. True liberation did not mean imitating the colonizer’s mentality,” he said. “It meant appreciating the power, beauty, and interconnectivity of all people.”
Born Melvin Peebles in Chicago on Aug. 21, 1932, he would later add “Van” to his name. In 1953, he graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University and joined the Air Force as a navigator for three years.
Sometimes called the “godfather of modern Black cinema,” the multitalented Van Peebles wrote numerous books and plays and recorded several albums — playing multiple instruments and delivering rap-style lyrics. Later, he became a successful options trader in the stock market.
But he was best known for writing, directing, and starring in 1971’s “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song,” a landmark film that will be screened at the New York Film Festival this week in his honor. The low-budget, art-house film was the restless, hyper-sexual, and violent tale of a Black street hustler on the run from police after killing white officers who were beating a Black revolutionary.
In 2014, Van Peeblesspoke to Asbury Park Press, part of the USA TODAY network, about writing the soundtrack for the movie — which he described as a form of “storytelling.”
“Before me, music soundtracks were afterthoughts,” Van Peebles said at the time. “See, I didn’t have money, so I said hmm because only two theaters in the United States would show Sweetback, I used my music to publicize the film, and it was such a success that everybody copied it.”
Van Peebles also went on to direct 1970’s “Watermelon Man” and got involved in Broadway, writing and producing several plays and musicals like the Tony-nominated “Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death” and “Don’t Play Us Cheap.” He later wrote the movie “Greased Lightning” starring Richard Pryor as Wendell Scott, the first Black race car driver.
Outside of directing, Van Peebles made his television acting debut in the miniseries “The Sophisticated Gents” in 1981. His other movie and TV credits include the 1997 TV series “The Shining,” 1997’s Showtime film “Riot,” 1993’s “Posse,” and 2013’s “Peeples” starring Kerry Washington and Craig Robinson.
Van Peebles collaborated with his son Mario in the 1989 film “Identity Crisis,” with Melvin directing and Mario starring as Chilly D, a struggling rapper possessed by the soul of a dead fashion designer. Van Peebles also starred alongside his son in the Mario-directed Black panther drama “Panther” (1995) as well as “Love Kills” (1998) and “Redemption Road” (2010).
Van Peebles’ death came days before the New York Film Festival celebrates him with the 50th anniversary of “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song.” Next week, the Criterion Collection releases the box set “Melvin Van Peebles: Essential Films.” A revival of his play “Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death” is also planned to hit Broadway next year, with his son serving as a creative producer.
Celebrities expressed condolences to Van Peebles upon hearing of his passing and remembered him.
Filmmaker Ava DuVernay took to Twitter to share a quote from Van Peebles: “You have not to let yourself believe you can’t. Do what you can do within the framework you have. And don’t look outside. Look inside,” adding he was an “iconic artist, filmmaker, actor, playwright, novelist, composer” who “has gone home.”
“In Living Color” actor David Alan Grier wrote: “We’ve lost another lion, the true revolutionary, an artistic gangsta, cultural disrupter who forever changed the game Rest n Peace, Melvin Van Peebles.”
In a statement to USA TODAY, Bill Cosby called Peebles “very prolific and, at times, prophetic.”
“Melvin’s works as a composer, writer, and performer need to be studied,” Cosby said. “The two original Thirty-Three and Third albums, ‘Brer Soul’ and ‘Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death,’ are fantastic — written, composed, and performed by the great Melvin Van Peebles. Melvin didn’t have the luxury of directors and producers of today. We are grateful to Melvin!.