Jamaican playwright Trevor Rhone dies at 69

Category: International Published on Thursday, 24 September 2009 12:40 Written by Associated Press Hits: 1463

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP)—Trevor Rhone, a prominent Jamaican playwright and screenwriter who co-wrote “The Harder They Come,” a film classic that helped introduce the island’s pop culture to a global audience, has died. He was 69.

TREVOR RHONE

His brother Neville says the filmmaker died of the consequences of a heart attack at a hospital in Jamaica’s capital of Kingston.

“The Harder They Come” was Jamaica’s first feature film. It starred reggae singer Jimmy Cliff and was an international success, winning an award at the 1973 Venice Film Festival.

The story was based on the life of Ivanhoe “Rhyghin” Martin, a notorious outlaw who terrorized sections of west Kingston during the late 1940s.