Bill Gunn (writer)

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. 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. 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. 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). He was also an advocate and friend of filmmaker and writer Kathleen Collins, playing a role in her film Losing Ground.

Death and legacy

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.

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. In 2021, Timpo adapted Gunn's play Black Picture Show for film in the form of a staged reading.

Bibliography

Plays

• 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

• 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.

Television screenplays

• Johnnas (1972), National Broadcasting Company (NBC).
• The Alberta Hunter Story (1982) (co-written with Chris Albertson) (never completed), Southern Pictures (UK).

Novels

• All the Rest Have Died (1964), Delacorte (New York).
• Rhinestone Sharecropping (1981), Reed, Cannon, , .

Filmography

As director

As film actor

As television actor

References

References

1. Harris, Brandon (March 31, 2010). [http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/news/2010/03/bill-gunn-surfaces-at-bam/ "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. (April 28, 2016). "Bill Gunn: An Unsung Hero of Black Filmmaking". The New York Public Library.
4. Brody, Richard (August 16, 2016), [http://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/the-front-row-ganja-hess "The Front Row: Ganja & Hess"], ''New Yorker''. Condé Nast.
5. Fraser, C. Gerald (Friday, April 7, 1989), [https://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/07/obituaries/bill-gunn-playwright-and-actor-dies-at-54-on-eve-of-play-premiere.html "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.
6. (Fall 2018). "The Eclipsed Visions of Bill Gunn". Cineaste.
7. "Gunn, Bill." Mitchell, Verner D, and Cynthia Davis, eds. ''Encyclopedia of the Black Arts Movement.'' Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2019. p. 147-148.
8. (12 February 2013). "Nyack Sketch Log: Sam Waymon Lived Here".
9. (31 March 2010). "BILL GUNN SURFACES AT BAM | Filmmaker Magazine".
10. (April 24, 1989). "Playwright Bill Gunn, 59, dies on eve of premiere". Jet.
11. "Till They Listen: Bill Gunn Directs America".
12. "BLACK PICTURE SHOW".
13. "Bill Gunn papers".