Playwright, painter, author, actor and director Melvin is a Chi-town native who attended Ohio Wesleyan University and joined the Air Force 13 days after graduation.
Van Peebles chats with playwright Ntozake Shange at an after-party following the September 15, 1976, opening of her play “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuff,” at New York’s Booth Theater. Miss Shange wrote and costarred in her production.
Van Peebles and actor Godfrey Cambridge (1933-1976) on the set of his 1970 dramedy “Watermelon Man,” which was about a racist White man who wakes up Black and is alienated from his family, friends and job.
Actor and director Mario Van Peebles shares a hearty laugh with his dad, Melvin, during a rehearsal for “Waltz of the Stork,” which Melvin wrote, directed and starred in at New York’s Century Theatre in 1981.
Melvin makes sure everything stays in focus on the set of “Watermelon Man” in June 1969.
Melvin takes a much needed break as he appears to prepare to pen his next masterpiece.
Melvin (centered) gets support from his son Mario, right, and late greats and pals—actor Ossie Davis, far left, and photographer Gordon Parks—at a private screening of “Baadasssss,” the 2004 documentary that his son directed about his 1971 indie film, “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadassssss Song” on March 24, 2004, in New York City.
Actors Khleo Thomas from left, Mario Van Peebles, Joy Bryant, David Alan Grier and Van Peebles attend the after-party for the Los Angeles premiere of “BAADASSSSS!” at the American Cinemateque at the Egyptian Theatre on May 25, 2004, in Hollywood, California.
Melvin Van Peebles and Mario Van Peebles attend the 14th Annual IFP Gotham Awards, a benefit dinner and awards honoring New York’s filmmaking community, at Pier Sixty December 1, 2004 in New York City. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Getty Images)
Date created: 01 Dec 2004
Melvin Van Peebles gives his son, actor and director Mario, a lift.
