Melvin Van Peebles

Melvin Van Peebles was an American actor, filmmaker, writer, and composer. He worked as an active filmmaker into the 2000s. 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.

21 August 1932

Born on the same birth date (21 August 1932): Menashe Kadishman

Born on the same birth day (21 August): Afonso VI of Portugal • Brody Jenner • Carrie-Anne Moss • Keith Allen (ice hockey) • Kim Cattrall • Lee Gronkiewicz • Medora de Vallombrosa, Marquise de Morès • Nikolay Bogolyubov • Paul Mellor • Serj Tankian

Born in the same month (August 1932): Abby Dalton • Andy Bathgate • Cormac Murphy-O'Connor • Edward Hardwicke • Howard Hodgkin • John Gomery • Liang Congjie • Mark Russell • Menashe Kadishman • Richard Meale • Roy Castle • Tam Dalyell