Bill Gunn

Director, Screenwriter

About

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Birth Place

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Died

April 05, 1989

Cause of Death

Encephalitis

Biography

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This trailblazing black artist wrote plays and films that were noted for their subtle insights into the nature of racial relationships and their angry irony. Gunn achieved his greatest success with the independently-produced "Ganja and Hess" (1973), which began as a genre vampire movie and ended up an eloquent and disturbing mix of passions, class and African mythology. Although a succes...

Filmography

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Ganja and Hess (1973)

Losing Ground (1982)

Ganja and Hess (1973)

The Spy With My Face (1966)

Penelope (1966)

Sergeant Rothschild

The Interns (1962)

Photos & Videos

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Landlord, The (1970) -- (Movie Clip) Great Costume!

Landlord, The (1970) -- (Movie Clip) It Ain't Your Baby

Bibliography

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"All the Rest Have Died"

Bill Gunn

"Rhinstone Sharecropper"

Bill Gunn

Biography

This trailblazing black artist wrote plays and films that were noted for their subtle insights into the nature of racial relationships and their angry irony. Gunn achieved his greatest success with the independently-produced "Ganja and Hess" (1973), which began as a genre vampire movie and ended up an eloquent and disturbing mix of passions, class and African mythology. Although a success at Cannes that year, the film was widely ignored in the USA, having been recut by its producers.

Filmography

Director (Feature Film)

Ganja and Hess (1973)

Cast (Feature Film)

Losing Ground (1982)

Ganja and Hess (1973)

The Spy With My Face (1966)

Penelope (1966)

Sergeant Rothschild

The Interns (1962)

Writer (Feature Film)

The Sweet Blood of Jesus (2015)

Source Material

Ganja and Hess (1973)

The Angel Levine (1970)

The Landlord (1970)

Cast (Special)

Elko: A Cowboy Gathering (1995)

Writer (Special)

Sojourner (1975)

Special Thanks (Special)

Sojourner (1975)

Life Events

1954

Broadway acting debut in "The Immoralist"

1959

Film acting debut in "The Sound and the Fury"

1970

Feature directing debut, "Stop" (never received commercial release)

1973

First feature as writer, producer, director, "Ganja and Hess"

Videos

Landlord, The (1970) -- (Movie Clip) Great Costume! The bustling costume-party scene from Hal Ashby's The Landlord, 1970, featuring Lee Grant, Beau Bridges, Marki Bey, Susan Anspach, Robert Klein (in black-face!) and Walter Brooke, photographed by Gordon Willis.

Landlord, The (1970) -- (Movie Clip) It Ain't Your Baby Explosive scene in which Elgar (Beau Bridges, title character) overhears tenant Fanny (Diana Sands) telling husband Copee (Louis Gossett) she's pregnant, and it goes badly, in Hal Ashby's The Landlord, 1970.

Landlord, The (1970) -- (Movie Clip) I Never Eat Lunch Society mom Joyce (Lee Grant) gets lubricated by fortune-teller and tenant Marge (Pearl Bailey) on a visit to her son's Brooklyn apartment building, in editor-turned-director Hal Ashby's debut film The Landlord, 1970.

Landlord, The (1970) -- (Movie Clip) Open, How Do We LIve? Opening with emphasis on Beau Bridges, the title character, addressing the camera, in the little-noticed but well-regarded satire/melodrama about urban race relations, and the first feature by whiz-kid editor Hal Ashby, who was given the directing assignment by his mentor Norman Jewison who stepped aside to produce, The Landlord, 1970.

Losing Ground (1982) -- (Movie Clip) I'm Using Religious Ecstasy Squeezing in a research session at her New York college library, philosophy professor Sara (Seret Scott) has an evidently chance encounter with handsome and well-read Duane Jones (we’ll later learn he’s named Duke), then, late for a date, remembers to call her husband, in writer-director Kathleen Collins’ Losing Ground, 1982.

Losing Ground (1982) -- (Movie Clip) Is This Puerto Rican History Week? Finding her artist husband away from their upstate NY summer studio, professor Sara (Seret Scott) fends off a student film-maker, then locates Victor (Bill Gunn) who has, it turns out, been painting a Puerto Rican model (Maritza Rivera), in director Kathleen Collins’ Losing Ground, 1982.

Losing Ground (1982) -- (Movie Clip) Sabor a Conga The song title translates to “Taste Of Conga” and the band, Los Patines, are “The Skates,” making an interesting choice as director Kathleen Collins follows Victor (Bill Gunn), artist husband of the college professor heroine, on the first visit to the town where he wants to take a summer house, in Losing Ground, 1982.

Ganja And Hess (1973) -- (Movie Clip) Addicted To Blood Fascinating opening from director Bill Gunn, minister and chauffeur Luther (Sam Waymon) narrating as he introduces his boss Dr. Hess (Duane Jones), in Ganja And Hess, 1973.

Ganja And Hess (1973) -- (Movie Clip) What Hunger Is Troubled, and addicted to blood, Dr. Hess (Duane Jones) conferring with his new assistant and expert George Meda (Bill Gunn, the director and screenwriter), imagninings taking over, early in Ganja And Hess, 1973.

Angel Levine, The - (Original Trailer) Harry Belafonte stars as The Angel Levine (1970) who invades the life of an old man (Zero Mostel) whether he likes it or not.

Landlord, The - (Original Trailer) A spoiled rich boy buys a Brooklyn tenement and gets mixed up in his tenants' lives in The Landlord (1970) starring Beau Bridges.

Spy with My Face, The - (Original Trailer) Man from U.N.C.L.E. Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) battles his evil impersonator in The Spy with My Face (1965).

Penelope - (Original Trailer) Neglected wife Natalie Wood turns to bank robbery to get her husband's attention in the comedy Penelope (1966).

Bibliography

"All the Rest Have Died"

Bill Gunn

"Rhinstone Sharecropper"

Bill Gunn

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