From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Melvin "Block" Van Peebles (born August 21, 1932) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, novelist and composer. He is most famous for creating the acclaimed film, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, which heralded a new era of African American focused films. He is the father of actor and director Mario Van Peebles. Description above from the Wikipedia article Melvin Van Peebles, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.