Stop The Rumour! Is Alive And Well

Olu Jacobs

T took the actress Lala Akindoju and much later, the veteran actress Joke Silva to dispel the rumour, which made the rounds on social media on Tuesday, June 9, that the veteran actor Oludotun Jacobs had passed on. Lala, who is believed to be quite close to the Jacobs, took to her Twitter and other social media handles to deny the rumour that the veteran actor had died.

Lala disclosed in the Twitter

post that she had just gotten

Ioff the phone with the actor and that he was alive. “Hey guys, please stop the rumour. Uncle Olu is alive. I just spoke with him and he is alive and well,” she wrote.

A similar rebuttal came from his wife of over three decades Joke Silva. The actress described the development as depressing, noting that it was necessary for the family to clear the air because she had been inundated with calls from family members, colleagues and well- wishers, who wanted to find out the truth about the actor.

A legend and one of Nigeria’s iconic actors, Uncle Olu, as younger colleagues call him, will be 78 in July, having been born in July 1942. Believed to be about the first black male Nigerian born actor to have been well received in England, Jacobs was formally educated at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in England. On completion of his training at the Academy, Jacobs worked with a number of repertoire theatre companies in Great Britain. He also worked extensively on television and on stage and returned after about a decade and half to join in the effort to develop the Nigerian theatre, television and film industry.