Zake's Mokae

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Zachariah "Zakes" Makgoba Mokae (born August 5, 1934 in Johannesburg , † September 9, 2009 in Las Vegas ; according to other sources, Zakes Zulu Mokae ) was a South African actor.

Life

Mokae grew up in South Africa. As a student at St Peter's College in Johannesburg, he was a saxophonist in the Huddleston Jazz Band. With the South African playwright Athol Fugard , he performed his play The Blood Knot , which is about two half-brothers of different skin color. It was the first time in the history of South Africa that a white man and a black man acted together in a play. He moved to London with Fugard in 1961 to perform the play there. Because of the limited artistic freedom during the time of South African apartheid , Mokae stayed in London, where he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art . From 1969 Mokae lived in the USA. There he played with Fugard in 'Master Harold' and the Boys, for which he received the 1982 Tony Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Play. The play was filmed in 1985 with Mokae and Matthew Broderick .

In 1993 Mokae was nominated again for the Tony Award for his performance in The Song of Jacob Zulu by Tug Yourgrau .

Mokae played in numerous films, mostly in supporting roles. These include anti-apartheid films like White Period of Drought and The Cry for Freedom , but also horror films like The Serpent in the Rainbow and Vampires in Brooklyn . He has also appeared in numerous television series in episode roles, such as Monk and Knight Rider . He later became theater director, including for the Nevada Shakespeare Company. He moved back to South Africa, where he lived in Cape Town , but returned to the USA in 2005 for health reasons, where he settled in Las Vegas.

He was married to Madelyn Mokae from 1966 to 1978 and from 1985 until his death. In 1975 he became the father of a daughter. Mokae died of a stroke .

Awards

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Zakes Mokae in the Internet Movie Database (English) , accessed on November 5, 2014
  2. ↑ a b c Obituary at playbill.com (English), accessed on November 5, 2014
personal data
SURNAME Mokae, Zakes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mokae, Zachariah Makgoba (full name); Mokae, Zakes Zulu (alternative name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African actor
DATE OF BIRTH August 5, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Johannesburg , South Africa
DATE OF DEATH September 9, 2009
Place of death Las Vegas , United States