Remembering Actor, playwright, theatre manager, and musician Chief Hubert Adedeji Ogunde D.Lit. on his death today (10 July 1916 – 4 April 1990).
He founded the first contemporary professional theatrical company in Nigeria, the African Music Research Party, in 1945.
He came, saw and conquered the Theatre World like the literary giant that he was. Little wonder he earned the appellation “Doyen of Theatre. In the late 1970s, Ogunde was spurred by the success of Ija Ominira and Ajani Ogun, two pioneering Yoruba feature-length films, to co-produce his first celluloid film, Aiye, in 1979.
He released Jaiyesimi, Aropin N’tenia and Ayanmo, feature-length films influenced by Yoruba mysticism, thereafter.
Ogunde died on the 4th of April, 1990, at the age of 73 at London’s Cromwell Hospital following a brief illness.
Years after his demise, Ogunde’s legacies live on and many cannot but fail to mention his numerous contributions to the Theatre World.