Curtain Call: Olu Jacobs (1942-2026)

The Nollywood film industry has lost another legend: veteran actor and film executive Olu Jacobs, MFR. He was 84. 

 Born Oludotun  Baiyewu Jacobs, he was regarded as one of the pioneers and godfathers of the Nollywood film industry. Born in Abeokuta, Ogun State, he studied Theatre at the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in England, and his decades-long career began on stage. He appeared in plays including Richard's Cork Leg, Black Man's Country, A Kind of Marriage, Night and Day, and The Holy Child. He had roles in various BBC shows such as Till Death Us Do Part, Angels, The Tomorrow People & Rumpole of the Bailey. 

                                                  

His NTA television shows included  Second Chance (the Nigerian remake of the BBC's Mind Your Language) and the police procedural series The Third Eye, where he played Inspector Best Idafa, who solved many of his cases with the help of his precocious daughter Uze, played by the late Yomi Adeyemi Wilson.  

He also had roles in the international films Ashanti, The Dogs of War & Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend. 

He starred  & appeared in several Nollywood films: Daybreak and Daybreak 2: Judgement Day, Cursed From Beyond,  Obstacles, Girl's Hostel, Keeping Faith, League of Gentlemen, and The Royal Hibiscus Hotel. 

In 1983, he served as narrator for the BBC documentary, Ogunde: Man of the Theatre, about Modern Nigerian Theatre's founding father. 

Olu Jacobs received the national honour of a Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR) from then President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011,  the Industry Merit Award for outstanding achievements in acting in 2013 and an Audio-Visual Rights Society of Nigeria (AVRS) icon award in 2022. 

                                                      

He is survived by his wife and fellow thespian, Joke Silva, whom he married in 1989, their two children and a grandchild. 

A talented gentleman who will never be forgotten. Rest in peace, sir.