Biographies: Melvin Van Peebles - Actor

Biographies

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African-American actor, director and writer, born on August 21, 1932, in Chicago. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1953, joined the Air Force, and worked as a navigator for three years. After military service, he moved to Mexico and worked as a portrait painter, then moved to San Francisco, where he began making short films. He moved to the Netherlands to take postgraduate courses in astronomy while also studying at the Dutch National Theatre. Eventually, he gave up his studies and moved to Paris, where he learned that he could join the French Directors Guild if he adapted his work in French. He soon taught himself the language and wrote several novels. He is known for The Shining (1997), Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971), and Don't Play Us Cheap (1972). He was married to Maria Marx and his son is actor Mario Van Peebles. He died on September 21, 2021, in Manhattan, New York City.