Melvin Van Peebles Dies At 89

Loving actor, writer, producer and director Melvin Van Peebles dies at age 89.
Melvin was the producer and director of Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song and Watermelon Man.
His son, actor Mario Van Peebles confirmed his fathers death Tuesday in a statement saying, “Dad knew that Black images matter. If a picture is worth a thousand words, what was a movie worth? We want to be the success we see, thus we need to see ourselves being free. True liberation did not mean imitating the colonizer’s mentality. It meant appreciating the power, beauty and interconnectivity of all people.”
Melvin’s work will be celebrated at the New York Film Festival this weekend with a 50th anniversary screening of his landmark film Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song.”
His cause of death has not been released at this time.