Remember this Olu Jacobs from the British late 60s drama The Crezz is still alive
A fascinating picture of Olu Jacobs quipping as Geoffrey Ademola in his white, short-sleeved Vintage 70s cotton four-pocketed-jacket. It shows the actor owning any character he plays as can be seen early on in his acting life.
Before what bloggers could only consistently report about him was the likelihood that he had kicked the bucket, the 81-year-old actor Olu Jacobs had long been living life justifiably as a remarkable gem because of an exceptional acting career to back it up either when at home in Nigeria or abroad in The Crezz.
With such records, there was always going to be an army of supporters setting straight those who thought he had died this past weekend the way actress Kate Henshaw told off a bunch of X profiles that were mostly tweeting their condolences without first getting credible confirmation.
📌📌📌📌📌📌📌📌📌📌HOW YOU PEOPLE PUT UP
RIP POSTS ABOUT SOMEONE WHO IS STILL ALIVE, YEAR IN YEAR OUT IS VERY SICKENING, TBH!!!
You do this to this great man and his family ALL THE TIME!!
It is all shades of wrong!!
Stop for goodness sake!!
UNCLE OLU JACOBS is ALIVE!!!— Kate Amaka Henshaw (@HenshawKate) June 30, 2024
At home in Nigeria, there seems to be disillusionment about the 2013 Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA) Industry Merit Award recipient Mr Jacobs’ existence but over in Britain, there is no doubt about what his life-long impact has been.
Back in 1976, Olu Jacobs was a fully-packed act in his interpretation of what West African polygamy and romance could look like to the British audience expecting to learn something new watching The Crezz primetime on ITV.
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Throughout the only episode in which he was featured, the viewers saw the exuberant presence of Geoffrey Ademola played by Olu Jacobs when he was much younger and very quick-witted. This time on television, he was visibly strong and wore the famous Afro haircut l, common with his generation.
Put it another way – The Crezz; Crescent was I suppose a largely middle-class area, Charles Bronte whose remarkably young daughter was hosting 37-year-old Ademola on a visit had shared in their conversation about political views. That set the stage for the divergence of culture that would ensue.
Oh, you Europeans! retorts the rather eloquent Ademola who made it a point to feel at home in another man’s house 24 hours before his flight back to Africa. You are so obsessed with the caste system. Working, up-up-middle, lower-middle, liberal, conservative, untouchable, he quips in his white, short-sleeved Vintage 70s cotton four-pocketed-jacket. It is a reflection of how Olu Jacobs makes sure he owns any character he finds himself trying to expose early on in his acting life.
Ten years after The Crezz, another outstanding delivery in Pirates, a film by Roman Polanski was launched. Here in lies the hard and strained life of the sailors at sea and Olu Jacobs was one of them as Boomako, a shipmate who is also the cook.
Sailing for treasure led Boomako to the extremes of Tunisia where he ultimately meets his end as the dispensable character who died so that the message could be passed. This early life exhibition meant that Mr Olu Jacobs was quite an experienced actor before relocating to Nigeria in the early 90s.
Now, back in his country, what came next was 20 years of active service to the film industry and strengthening its profile. But there was also, sadly, a Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) diagnosis waiting for him in the future.
It was on a live interview on With Chude aired on Channels Television in November 2021 that wife Joke Silva revealed what led to her husband’s inactive public life in the past several years. In 2013 while receiving his Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA) Industry Merit Award, Olu Jacob’s frail approach to his moments was obvious from a long distance.
On the AMVCA podium, he was joined by his wife who told the presenter Chude Jideonwo 8 years after the film industry event that he is dealing with issues and it has been going on for a couple of years. It is known as dementia with Lewy Body. It is a degenerative disease that affects the brain and it is almost like a Parkinson’s type of disease, it affects the brain so you don’t see the shaking.
Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.
