Melvin Van Peebles was born August 21, 1932. He is an American actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, novelist and composer. He is most famous for creating the acclaimed film, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, which heralded a new era of African American focused films. He is the father of actor and director Mario Van Peebles.
Van Peebles was born Melvin Peebles in Chicago, Illinois. He joined the Air Force thirteen days after graduating from Ohio Wesleyan University, staying for three and a half years. He lived in Mexico for a brief period, earning a living by painting portraits, before coming back to the United States, where he started driving cable cars in San Francisco. He began writing about his experiences as a cable car driver. What evolved from an initially small article and a series of photographs was Van Peebles' first book, The Big Heart.
After Van Peebles completed his first short films, he took them with him to Hollywood in order to try and find work, but was unable to find anyone who wanted to hire him as a director. In New York City, Van Peebles met a man who saw his films and wanted to screen them in France.
In France, Van Peebles learned the language and was hired to translate Mad magazine into French. He began to write plays in French, utilizing the sprechgesang form of songwriting, where the lyrics were spoken over the music. This style carried over to Van Peebles' debut album, Brer Soul.
In 2005, Van Peebles was the subject of a documentary entitled How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It). In 2008, Van Peebles completed the film Confessions of a Ex-Doofus-Itchy Footed Mutha, and appeared on All My Children as Melvin Woods, the father of Samuel Woods, a character portrayed by his son, Mario. Van Peebles' next project will be a double album with Madlib, to be released on Stones Throw Records. The first disc of the album will be Brer Soul Meets Quasimoto and the second disc will be the Madlib Invazion remix. Madlib had previously sampled Van Peebles heavily on both of his albums under the Quasimoto moniker.
After Van Peebles completed his first short films, he took them with him to Hollywood in order to try and find work, but was unable to find anyone who wanted to hire him as a director. In New York City, Van Peebles met a man who saw his films and wanted to screen them in France.
In France, Van Peebles learned the language and was hired to translate Mad magazine into French. He began to write plays in French, utilizing the sprechgesang form of songwriting, where the lyrics were spoken over the music. This style carried over to Van Peebles' debut album, Brer Soul.
In 2005, Van Peebles was the subject of a documentary entitled How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It). In 2008, Van Peebles completed the film Confessions of a Ex-Doofus-Itchy Footed Mutha, and appeared on All My Children as Melvin Woods, the father of Samuel Woods, a character portrayed by his son, Mario. Van Peebles' next project will be a double album with Madlib, to be released on Stones Throw Records. The first disc of the album will be Brer Soul Meets Quasimoto and the second disc will be the Madlib Invazion remix. Madlib had previously sampled Van Peebles heavily on both of his albums under the Quasimoto moniker.
