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]
Bill Gunn | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | William Harrison Gunn July 15, 1934 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US |
| Died | April 5, 1989 (aged 54) Nyack, New York |
| Occupation | Writer, director, actor |
Career
editA 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
editPlays
edit- Marcus in the High Grass (1959) – produced by Theatre Guild.
- Johnnas (1968) – produced in New York City at Chelsea Theatre.
- Black Picture Show (1975) – produced in New York City at Vivian Beaumont Theater.
- Rhinestone (musical; based on the novel Rhinestone Sharecropping) (1982) – produced in New York City at Richard Allen Cultural Center.
- The Forbidden City (1989) – produced in New York City at The Public Theater.
Screenplays
edit- Stop! (1969) (never released), Warner Bros.
- The Angel Levine (1970) (with Ronald Ribman; adaptation of the novel by Bernard Malamud), United Artists.
- The Landlord (1970) (adaptation of the 1966 novel by Kristin Hunter), United Artists.
- Ganja and Hess (1973), Kelly-Jordan Enterprises, re-edited and released under title Blood Couple, Heritage Enterprises.
- The Greatest (1977) (uncredited), original script, Columbia Pictures.[13]
Television screenplays
edit- Johnnas (1972), National Broadcasting Company (NBC).
- The Alberta Hunter Story (1982) (co-written with Chris Albertson) (never completed), Southern Pictures (UK).
Novels
edit- 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
editAs director
edit| 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
edit| 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
edit| 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
edit- ^ Harris, Brandon (March 31, 2010). "Bill Gunn Surfaces at BAM", Filmmaker Magazine. Retrieved February 18, 2011
- ^ Gunn, Bill (May 13, 1973), "To be a Black Artist'." The New York Times, p. 121.
- ^ Frederick, Candice (April 28, 2016). "Bill Gunn: An Unsung Hero of Black Filmmaking". The New York Public Library. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
- ^ Brody, Richard (August 16, 2016), "The Front Row: Ganja & Hess", New Yorker. Condé Nast.
- ^ a b Ryfle, Steve (Fall 2018). "The Eclipsed Visions of Bill Gunn". Cineaste (4): 26–31.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b "Gunn, Bill." Mitchell, Verner D, and Cynthia Davis, eds. Encyclopedia of the Black Arts Movement. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2019. p. 147-148.
- ^ Batson, Bill (12 February 2013). "Nyack Sketch Log: Sam Waymon Lived Here". Nyack News and Views. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
- ^ "BILL GUNN SURFACES AT BAM | Filmmaker Magazine". 31 March 2010.
- ^ West, Malcolm R., ed. (April 24, 1989). "Playwright Bill Gunn, 59, dies on eve of premiere". Jet. 76 (3). Chicago: 53.
- ^ "Till They Listen: Bill Gunn Directs America". artistsspace.org. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
- ^ "BLACK PICTURE SHOW". Metrograph. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
- ^ "Bill Gunn papers". The New York Public Library Archives and Manuscripts. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
Further reading
edit- Anderson, Melissa. "In Two Urgent Reprints, Bill Gunn Fights for His Singularity", Village Voice, December 29, 2015.
- David, Marlo D. "'Let It Go Black': Desire and the Erotic Subject in the Films of Bill Gunn", Black Camera 2.2 (2011): 26–46.
- "Gunn, Bill." Mitchell, Verner D, and Cynthia Davis, eds. Encyclopedia of the Black Arts Movement. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2019. p. 147-148.
- Ostrom, Hans. "Bill Gunn", in Hans Ostrom and J. David Macey (eds), The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Literature, Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishers, 2005. Volume II, 683.
- Sieving, Christopher. Pleading the Blood: Bill Gunn's Ganja & Hess. Indiana University Press, 2022.
- Tate, Greg. "Bill Gunn, 1934–89." Village Voice, April 25, 1989. Vol. 34, Iss. 17, p. 98.
- Williams, John. "Bill Gunn (1929–1989): A Checklist of His Films, Dramatic Works and Novels." Black American Literature Forum. 25.4 (1991): 781- (7p).
External links
edit- Bill Gunn at IMDb
- Bill Gunn at the Internet Broadway Database
- Bill Gunn at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
- Bill Gunn Papers – Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
- Original print donated to the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.