Advanced search
- TITLES
- NAMES
- COLLABORATIONS
Search filters
Enter full date
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
Only includes names with the selected topics
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
1-25 of 25
- Henry Cele was born on 30 January 1949 in Durban, South Africa. He was an actor, known for The Ghost and the Darkness (1996), Shaka Zulu (1986) and Shaka Zulu: The Citadel (2001). He was married to Jenny Hollander and Tozi Duma. He died on 2 November 2007 in Durban, South Africa.
- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Vernon Sewell was educated at Malborough College. He was one of the crew of "castaways" with Michael Powell on the Shetland island of Foula to make The Edge of the World (1937). He later became one of the mainstays in the "B" movie niche of the British film industry, and in his almost 40-year career he turned out everything from spy thrillers to horror films to "sexploitation" fare.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Peter Prowse was born on 2 September 1924 in Sandton, Gauteng, South Africa. He was an actor and director, known for Tokoloshe (1965), Sword of Lancelot (1963) and Underworld Informers (1963). He died on 10 December 1976 in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.- Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi was born on 27 August 1928 in Mahlabathini, South Africa. He was an actor, known for Zulu (1964), Tokoloshe (1965) and Black as Hell...Thick as Grass (1979). He was married to Irene Mzila. He died on 9 September 2023 in Durban, South Africa.
- Actress
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Eve Boswell was born on 11 May 1922 in Budapest, Hungary. She was an actress, known for Happy Go Lovely (1951), The Dickie Henderson Show (1960) and The Ed Sullivan Show (1948). She died on 14 August 1998 in Durban, South Africa.- Additional Crew
Michael Thomas Bernard Hoare was born in India in 1919 to Irish parents. He spent his childhood in India, but was sent to England for his schooling, first at Margate College. When World War II broke out, he joined the British army and served in the London Irish Rifles. He attended officer training school, and upon graduation was posted to the Royal Armored Corps as a 2nd Lieutenant. He was assigned to the Pacific theater, and took part in the Battle of Kohima in India in 1944, which resulted in a stinging defeat for the Japanese. After further service in Burma, he was demobbed and left the army.
After the war he continued his education in London, and eventually became an accountant. In 1948, now married and with a child, he decided that his family's fortunes would be better in South Africa. He, his wife, and their son, Chris, moved to Durban. Hoare started a safari business, taking tourists across the Kalahari Desert to the Okavongo Delta. In 1961, the Congo in Africa was granted independence by Belgium, and the mineral-rich province of Katanga decided to secede from the new country and declared its own independence. Hoare was contacted by Katanga leader Moise Tshombe for help, as the central Congolese government had decided to forcibly bring Katanga back into the Congo and the United Nations had backed them up. Katanga had no army to speak of, just some local native police. Hoare accepted Tshombe's offer and gathered a group of ex-soldiers to train the Katangese.
In 1964, the Congo was wracked by a rebellion by a particularly savage movement called the Simbas, who rampaged throughout the country, burning villages, raping and murdering civilians in particularly horrific and brutal fashion, in addition to often cannibalizing victims and prisoners. The Congolese government forces were terrified of them and could not, or would not, fight them. Tshombe again asked Hoare for aid, and he responded by raising a mercenary force of veteran soldiers--both African and European--called 5 Commando to put down the rebellion and destroy the Simbas. In little more than a year he and his men had taken Stanleyville from the Simbas, freed hundreds of hostages they had taken and had pretty much pushed the rebels out of the country -- he had once been called "Mad Bloodhound Hoare" by an East German broadcaster because of his reputation for not only defeating his enemies but hunting them down and wiping them out afterwards.
By the time he had completed his mission and retired at the end of 1965, his success at accomplishing with relatively few men what other military organizations could not had made him the most famous mercenary leader in the world. He had single-handedly changed the image of mercenaries from brutal, drunken, disreputable and corrupt thugs to efficient, well-trained and effective military units. He himself came across as articulate, well-spoken and professional, an almost stereotypical British officer and gentleman. In 1978 he was hired as a technical adviser on the film The Wild Geese (1978), starring Richard Burton (who played a character largely based on Hoare) and Richard Harris, about a mercenary hired to rescue a respected African leader from a murderous renegade general who had overthrown and imprisoned him and was set to execute him. The film was a major success, spawned several sequels and brought Hoare back into the spotlight again.
In 1981 he was in the news once more when he and a band of ex-soldiers were recruited for a coup against a dictatorial regime in the Seychelles, a small island country in the Indian Ocean. The coup failed, however, and he and his men wee forced to hijack a plane in order to escape. They landed in South Africa, where they were promptly arrested. Hoare was sentenced to ten years in prison, but was released in 1985 after having served almost three years. Mike Hoare died in Durban, South Africa in 2020, aged 100.- Antoinette Radloff died on 7 December 2000 in Westville Prison, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
- Roland Mqwebu was born in 1941 in South Africa. He was an actor, known for Strike Force (1986), u'Deliwe (1975) and Shaka Zulu (1986). He died on 28 August 2015 in Durban, South Africa.
- Alfred D. Nokwe was born on 1 April 1935 in Port St. Johns, South Africa. He was an actor, known for Kill Slade (1989), Cry, the Beloved Country (1995) and Inyakanyaka (1977). He was married to Patty Masuku. He died on 3 June 2008 in Durban, South Africa.
- Actress
- Additional Crew
Valerie Miller was born on 1 May 1928 in Liverpool, England, UK. She was an actress, known for BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1950), African Gold (1965) and The Pink Chiquitas (1986). She was married to Peter Brown. She died on 25 April 1989 in Durban, Natal, South Africa.- Fatima Meer was born on 12 August 1928 in Durban, Natal, South Africa. She was a writer, known for Taj Mahal: An Eternal Love Story (2005), The Making of the Mahatma (1996) and Flow: For Love of Water (2008). She died on 12 March 2010 in Durban, Natal, South Africa.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Carr Hartley was born in 1909 in Nairobi, Kenya. He was an actor, known for Men Against the Sun (1953), Zanzabuku (1956) and Below the Sahara (1953). He died on 7 December 1992 in Durban, South Africa.- Actor
- Composer
- Soundtrack
AKA was born on 28 January 1988 in Cape Town, South Africa. He was an actor and composer, known for District 9 (2009), Chappie (2015) and AKA & Nasty C: Lemons (Lemonade) (2022). He died on 10 February 2023 in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.- Charles Pillai was an actor, known for A Dry White Season (1989), A Far Off Place (1993) and Ernest Goes to Africa (1997). He died on 6 November 2010 in Durban, South Africa.
- Phyllis Naidoo was born on 5 January 1928 in Estcourt, Natal, South Africa. She was an actress, known for A World Apart (1988). She was married to Mooroogiah Naidoo and Willie Joseph. She died on 13 February 2013 in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
- Music Department
Jürgen Bräuninger was born on 13 September 1956 in Stuttgart, West Germany. He is known for The Lawnmower Man (1992) and The Dead Pit (1989). He was married to Brigitte Eva Keck. He died on 6 May 2019 in Durban, South Africa.- James Alexander Chapman was born on 31 May 1879 in Birmingham, West Midlands, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Waltz Time (1933), Hobson's Choice (1931) and The Black Tulip (1937). He was married to Mollie Griffin and Sybil Viney. He died on 8 April 1969 in Durban, South Africa.
- Ireneusz Karamon was born on 21 March 1941 in Marianówka, Poland. He was an actor, known for Pokój z widokiem na morze (1978), Kaszebe (1971) and Zabijcie czarna owce (1972). He died on 7 November 2014 in Durban, Natal, South Africa.
- King Goodwill Zwelethini KaBhekuzulu was born on 14 July 1948 in Nongoma, Zulu Kingdom [now South Africa]. He died on 12 March 2021 in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
- Actress
- Composer
Busi Mhlongo was born on 28 October 1947 in Inanda, Natal, South Africa. She was an actress and composer, known for Long Street (2009) and Gensyn med Johannesburg (1996). She died on 15 June 2010 in Durban, Natal, South Africa.- Mike Harris died on 8 November 2021 in Durban, South Africa.
- Reginald Selleck was born in 1899 in Plymouth, Devon, England, UK. He was an actor, known for London Playhouse (1955). He died on 27 November 1958 in Durban, South Africa.
- Mazisi Kunene was born on 12 May 1930 in Durban, South Africa. He died on 11 August 2006 in Durban, South Africa.
- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Joseph Albrecht was born on 5 January 1894 in Lambeth, South London, England, UK. He was a producer and director, known for Isban: Or the Mystery of the Great Zimbabwe (1920), Copper Mask (1919) and A Border Scourge (1917). He died in October 1977 in Durban, South Africa.- Sydney Kitchen was born in 1951 in Durban, South Africa. He was married to Germaine. He died on 22 March 2011 in Durban, South Africa.