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Bill Gunn (writer)

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Bill Gunn
BornWilliam Harrison Gunn
July 15, 1934
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
DiedApril 5, 1989 (aged 54)
Nyack, New York
OccupationWriter, director, actor

William Harrison Gunn (July 15, 1934 – April 5, 1989) was an American playwright, novelist, actor and film director. His 1973 cult classic horror film Ganja & Hess was chosen as one of ten best American films of the decade at the Cannes Film Festival, 1973.[1][2][3] In The New Yorker, film critic Richard Brody described him as being "a visionary filmmaker left on the sidelines of the most ostensibly liberated period of American filmmaking."[4] Filmmaker Spike Lee had said that Gunn is "one of the most under-appreciated filmmakers of his time."[5] Gunn's drama Johnnas won an Emmy Award in 1972.[6]

Career

A native of Philadelphia, Gunn wrote more than 29 plays during his lifetime. He also authored two novels and wrote several produced screenplays. In 1950, Gunn studied acting with Mira Rostova in New York's East Village.[5] In 1954, he played a role in the Broadway production of The Immoralist with James Dean. Along with Dean, he joined a social circle that included Montgomery Clift, Eartha Kitt, and Marlon Brando.[7] Gunn shared a house in Nyack, New York with Sam Waymon, brother of singer Nina Simone, who also wrote the musical score for Ganja & Hess.[8] Gunn's directorial debut would have been Stop! (1970), which was funded by Warner Bros. under the plan of being the second studio film directed by an African American. It was intended as a drama involving two couples becoming involved with each other within homosexual and interracial sexual contact alongside surreal undertones. The film was shelved by the studio before release, and the studio later claimed they did not have the print in their archives. A 35mm print was shown at a retrospective upon Gunn's death, and a VHS copy of the film exists (found by Jack Hoffmeister, co-star of the film).[9] He was also an advocate and friend of filmmaker and writer Kathleen Collins, playing a role in her film Losing Ground.[7] He died when he was 54 years old from encephalitis at a Nyack, New York hospital the day before his play The Forbidden City opened at the Public Theater in New York City.[10]

In 2021, an exhibition entitled "Till They Listen: Bill Gunn Directs America", dedicated to the work and legacy of Bill Gunn, was shown at the New York gallery Artists Space. The program series was organized by Gunn's artistic collaborators and scholars including, Hilton Als, Jake Perlin, Sam Waymon, Nicholas Forster, Awoye Timpo, Chiz Schultz, and Ishmael Reed.[11] In 2021, Timpo adapted Gunn's play Black Picture Show for film in the form of a staged reading.[12]

Bibliography

Plays

Screenplays

Television screenplays

Novels

  • All the Rest Have Died (1964), Delacorte (New York).
  • Rhinestone Sharecropping (1981), Reed, Cannon, ISBN 0-918408-19-9, ISBN 978-0-918408-19-8.

Filmography

As director

Year Film Notes
1970 Stop!
1973 Ganja & Hess aka Black Evil, Black Vampire (USA video title), Blackout: The Moment of Terror, Blood Couple (cut version), Double Possession and Vampires of Harlem
1980 Personal Problems

As film actor

Year Title Role Notes
1957 Crossroads Roy Short
Uncredited
1959 The Sound and the Fury T.P., Dilsey's Grandson
1962 The Interns Rosco Uncredited
1966 Penelope Sergeant Rothschild
1973 Ganja & Hess George Meda
1982 Losing Ground Victor Rogers
1988 Black Vampire Dr. Matara Final film role
Re-edit of Ganja & Hess

As television actor

Year Title Role Notes
1957 Look Up and Live George Episode: "No Man Is an Island"
1961 Route 66 Hank Plummer Episode: "Goodnight Sweet Blues"
Naked City Al Norbert Episode: "Which Is Joseph Creeley?"
1962 The Defenders Frank Reilly Episode: "The Tarnished Cross"
Stoney Burke Toby / Bud Sutter 2 episodes
1963 The Outer Limits Lieutenant James P. Willowmore Episode: "Nightmare"
1964 The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Namana Episode: "The Double Affair"
Dr. Kildare Jesse Kamba, MD Episode: "The Elusive Dik-Dik"
1965 The Fugitive Avery Episode: "Conspiracy of Silence"
1986 The Cosby Show Homer 2 episodes

References

  1. ^ Harris, Brandon (March 31, 2010). "Bill Gunn Surfaces at BAM", Filmmaker Magazine. Retrieved February 18, 2011
  2. ^ Gunn, Bill (May 13, 1973), "To be a Black Artist'." The New York Times, p. 121.
  3. ^ Frederick, Candice (April 28, 2016). "Bill Gunn: An Unsung Hero of Black Filmmaking". The New York Public Library. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
  4. ^ Brody, Richard (August 16, 2016), "The Front Row: Ganja & Hess", New Yorker. Condé Nast.
  5. ^ a b Ryfle, Steve (Fall 2018). "The Eclipsed Visions of Bill Gunn". Cineaste (4): 26–31.
  6. ^ Fraser, C. Gerald (Friday, April 7, 1989), "Bill Gunn, Playwright and Actor, Dies at 54 on Eve of Play Premiere", The New York Times, section D, p. 20 of the New York edition. Retrieved March 24, 2009.
  7. ^ a b "Gunn, Bill." Mitchell, Verner D, and Cynthia Davis, eds. Encyclopedia of the Black Arts Movement. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2019. p. 147-148.
  8. ^ Batson, Bill (12 February 2013). "Nyack Sketch Log: Sam Waymon Lived Here". Nyack News and Views. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  9. ^ "BILL GUNN SURFACES AT BAM | Filmmaker Magazine". 31 March 2010.
  10. ^ West, Malcolm R., ed. (April 24, 1989). "Playwright Bill Gunn, 59, dies on eve of premiere". Jet. 76 (3). Chicago: 53.
  11. ^ "Till They Listen: Bill Gunn Directs America". artistsspace.org. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
  12. ^ "BLACK PICTURE SHOW". Metrograph. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  13. ^ "Bill Gunn papers". The New York Public Library Archives and Manuscripts. Retrieved August 10, 2021.

Further reading

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