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.