American actor, director, and screenwriter (died 2021)

Melvin Van Peebles

Melvin Van Peebles 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 feature debut Watermelon Man, in 1970. Eschewing further overtures from Hollywood, he used the successes he had so far to bankroll his work as an independent filmmaker.

Born

1932

August 21

Died

Living

Era

1930s

Country

—

About

Melvin, in brief

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Life timeline

Key dates

1932 Born

Also on August 21

What else happened on this day, through history

959 Eraclus becomes the 25th bishop of Liège.
1140 Song dynasty general Yue Fei defeats an army led by Jin dynasty general Wuzhu at the Battle of Yancheng during the Jin–Song Wars.
1169 Battle of the Blacks: Uprising by the black African forces of the Fatimid army, along with a number of Egyptian emirs and commoners, against Saladin.
1192 Minamoto no Yoritomo becomes Sei-i Taishōgun and the de facto ruler of Japan. (Traditional Japanese date: the 12th day of the seventh month in the third year of the Kenkyū (建久) era).

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The world in 1932

When Melvin arrived

april 24 Benny Rothman leads the mass trespass of Kinder Scout, leading to substantial legal reforms in the United Kingdom.
april 5 Dominion of Newfoundland: Ten thousand rioters seize the Colonial Building leading to the end of self-government.
august 2 The positron (antiparticle of the electron) is discovered by Carl D. Anderson.
august 24 Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly across the United States non-stop (from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey).

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Same-day contemporaries

Also born on August 21

Alicia Witt 1975– American actress and musician Archie Griffin 1954– American football player Cameron Winklevoss 1981– American rower and businessman, co-founded ConnectU Carrie-Anne Moss 1967– Canadian actress Donald Dewar 1937–2000 Scottish politician, first First Minister of Scotland (died 2000) Emiliano Mercado del Toro 1891–2007 Puerto Rican-American soldier (died 2007) James FitzJames 1670–1734 1st Duke of Berwick, French general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire (died 1734) Jules Michelet 1798–1874 French historian and philosopher (died 1874) Otto Goldschmidt 1829– German composer, conductor and pianist (died 1907)

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Same-year contemporaries

Also born in 1932

Alfonso Arau 1932– Mexican actor and director Athol Fugard 1932–2025 South African-American actor, director, and playwright (died 2025) Benigno Aquino Jr. 1932–1983 Filipino journalist and politician (born 1932) Christopher Lasch 1932–1994 American historian and critic (born 1932) Derek Taylor 1932–1997 English journalist and author (died 1997) Don Valentine 1932– American venture capitalist (died 2019) Fernando Botero 1932–2023 Colombian painter and sculptor (died 2023) Francis Arinze 1932– Nigerian cardinal Hassan al-Turabi 1932–2016 Sudanese activist and politician (died 2016)

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More to explore

Melvin's birthday August 21 Melvin's zodiac Leo When Melvin arrived 1932