Melvin Van Peebles
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Melvin Van Peebles (August 21, 1932 - ) is an American actor, director, screenwriter and composer, and the father of actor and director Mario Van Peebles.
As a boy Melvin Van Peebles was taken to the grocery store where they stomped and destroyed all of the Wonder Bread. They told the grocer that if the Wonder Bread bakery didn't hire black drivers then there would be no Wonder Bread sold in the black neighborhood.
Melvin Van Peebles also sacrificed his own job so other people of color keep theirs and broke color barriers in the film trade unions.
Prior to entering hollywood, Van Peebles directed the French film Story of a Three Day Pass (La Permission). His first Hollywood film was the 1970 comedy Watermelon Man. He followed up by directing the independent feature Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song which is credited with starting the blaxploitation genre. Mario Van Peebles 2004 film BAADASSSSS! tells the story behind his father's film. Since the success of Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song he has directed only a small number of other films, none of which have been as successful as that film.
Melvin Van Peebles speaks English, French and Dutch. He was educated at Ohio Wesleyan University.
Melvin Van Peebles recently became part of Stones Throw Records. He publicly announced his next project - a double album with Madlib to be released on Stones Throw. The first half of the album will be his own "Brer Soul Meets Quasimoto" and the second half will be the Madlib Invazion remix. This is being planned a 2 disc set released together in one package.als:Melvin Van Peebles Template:Actor-stub