Melvin Van Peebles

Actor

August 21, 1932 (89 years)

† September 21, 2021

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Biography

Melvin Van Peebles (born Melvin Peebles; August 21, 1932 – September 21, 2021) was an American actor, filmmaker, writer, and composer. His feature film debut, The Story of a Three-Day Pass (1967), was based on his own French-language novel La Permission and was shot in France, as it was difficult for a black American director to get work at the time. The film won an award at the San Francisco International Film Festival which gained him the interest of Hollywood studios, leading to his American …

Filmography

5.1

American Swing

Self

Chronicles the rise and fall of 1970s New York City nightclub Plato's Retreat.

8.1

Homicide: Life on the Street

Bennett Jackson

An American police procedural chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Police Department's Homicide Unit.

7.3

Girlfriends

Kenneth Daly

A friend group of black women face life's tests and triumphs together. From dating to divorce, and friends to family to relationships, Joan, Maya, Lynn and Toni support each other despite their differing backgrounds.

8.0

Living Single

Living Single is an American television sitcom that aired for five seasons on the Fox network from August 22, 1993, to January 1, 1998. The show centered on the lives of six friends who share personal and professional experiences while living in a Brooklyn brownstone. Throughout its run, Living Single became one of the most popular African-American sitcoms of its era, ranking among the top five in African-American ratings in all five seasons. The series was produced by Yvette Lee Bowser's company, Sister Lee, in association with Warner Bros. Television. In contrast to the popularity of NBC's "Must See TV" on Thursday nights in the 1990s, many African American and Latino viewers flocked to Fox's Thursday night line-up of Martin, Living Single, and New York Undercover. In fact, these were the three highest-rated series among black households for the 1996–1997 season.

7.0

Dream On

Norman Green

The family life, romantic life, and career of Martin Tupper, a divorced New York City book editor. The show distinctively interjected clips from older black and white television series to punctuate Tupper's feelings or thoughts.

6.3

The Shining

Richard Hallorann

A new caretaker moves with his family into the mysterious Overlook Hotel for the winter.

6.5

Last Action Hero

Self

After his father's death, a young boy finds solace in action movies featuring an indestructible cop. Given a magic ticket by a theater manager, he is transported into the film and teams up with the cop to stop a villain who escapes into the real world.

3.7

Hollywood Black

Self (archive footage)

The epic story of the actors, writers, directors, and producers who fought for their place on the page, behind the camera and on the screen. From blackface to Black Panther, this series is a definitive chronicle of more than a century of the black experience in Hollywood and a powerful reexamination of a quintessentially American story – in brilliant color.

4.1

Jaws: The Revenge

Mr. Witherspoon

After another deadly shark attack, Ellen Brody decides she has had enough of New England's Amity Island and moves to the Caribbean to join her son, Michael, and his family. But a great white shark has followed her there, hungry for more lives.

8.8

Hallmark Hall of Fame

Bucket

Long-running anthology program sponsored by Hallmark Cards. Beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2019, the series received 80 Emmy Awards, 24 Christopher Awards, 11 Peabody Awards, 9 Golden Globes, and 4 Humanitas Prizes. Early seasons were a weekly live drama, eventually transitioning to videotaped and then filmed productions broadcast as occasional specials.

5.7

Boomerang

Editor

Marcus is a successful advertising executive who woos and beds women almost at will. After a company merger he finds that his new boss, the ravishing Jacqueline, is treating him in exactly the same way. Completely traumatised by this, his work goes badly downhill.

8.5

The Sophisticated Gents

Walter 'Moon' Porter

The 25-year reunion of members of a black athletic-social club brings together nine of its members for the first time to honor their old coach but is marred by a murder investigation involving one of the gents.

5.4

Terminal Velocity

Noble

A maverick skydiver and a former KGB agent team up to stop the Russian mafia from stealing gold.

4.4

Fist of the North Star

Asher

From the immensely popular FIST OF THE NORTH STAR comic book series, comes a new hero. The fate of mankind rests with superhuman warrior Kenshiro who roams the wastelands of the future waging a battle against overwhelming evil. With the spiritual guidance of his dead father, Kenshiro fights to free his stolen love from the brutal tyrant Lord Shin. Through his struggle he must confront his destiny.

5.5

Sonny Spoon

Sonny Spoon is a detective program aired in the United States on the NBC television network in 1988. The series was created by Michael Daly, Dinah Prince, Stephen J. Cannell and Randall Wallace and produced by Stephen J. Cannell Productions.

5.5

Hard Luck

Hospital Prophet

Three converging story lines involving bootleggers, a serial killer and drug dealers are followed. A former drug dealer tries to go straight, but comes across a stash of stolen drugs. Meanwhile, a middle-aged suburban housewife hides a sadistic and vicious streak.

5.4

Posse

Papa Joe

A group of mostly black infantrymen return from the Spanish-American War with a cache of gold. They travel to the West where their leader searches for the men who lynched his father.

5.6

True Identity

Taxi Driver

In order to escape from the mob, an African-American man must disguise himself as a white man.

6.3

Panther

Old Jail Bird

In this sprawling, fictionalized history of the Black Panthers, 1960s Oakland becomes a war zone as the Panthers battle for the right to exist.

3.5

Love Kills

Able

A masseur gets mixed up in the family plots at the mansion of a recently deceased Beverly Hills millionaire.