Daughter of the late legendary actor, Hubert Ogunde has shared a striking image of her father 32 years after his death.
Dayo Akiboye-Ogunde, herself an actress and producer, said it is nostalgic feeling about her father who took the Nigerian theatre by the storm in the 50s up to some part of the 80s.
“April 4th 1990 was a day the people of Ososa will not forget in a hurry as it was the day they lost one of their illustrious sons, Hubert Adedeji Ogunde,” Dayo wrote.
In the 1960s, Ogunde produced his most popular play, Yoruba Ronu (Yoruba Think) which was a satirical account of the strife that plagued the Yorubas in the 60s.
Among his other plays are Bread and Bullet, Ekun Oniwogbe, Ire Olokun, Awo Mimo, Orisa Nla, Otito Koro and Onimoto, which depicted the hustle and bustle of living in Lagos.
Ogunde who was born July 1916 in Ososa and was raised and taught about African culture and traditions which helped the young Ogunde later in life.
In 1945, he founded his theatre, Ogunde African Music Research Party and produced his first play ‘Worse than crime, a political play infused with folk songs.
Ogunde was known as the father of contemporary Yoruba theatre as most of his plays incorporated dramatic actions, dance and music realities of the period.
Dayo wrote, “He was not only a pioneer in the Nigerian field of drama but also of native music and has been described as a man with unique and large reservoir of creative resources to draw from. This and many more creative feats gave him the title of the Doyen of Nigerian Theatre.”
His last outing was in 1990 where he featured in the popular film ‘Mr. Johnson’ which was in collaboration with a UK based producer.
“Sadly, he fell sick while on location and was taken abroad from where he passed on,” the daughter recalled
In all, Ogunde wrote over seventy stage plays and opera, produced four featured films and over one hundred songs.