Bill Gunn (writer)

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]

  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. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ryfle was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  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.