Jamaica has lost one of its brightest stars as Trevor Rhone passed at the age of 69. From NewsOne:

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.

His brother Neville says the filmmaker died Tuesday 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.