VETERAN actor Jimi Solanke, is dead. He passed on Monday at 81.
would’ve been 59 days to his 82nd birthday.
Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State confirmed the dramatist’s demise in a statement, 59 days to his 82nd birthday.
Born on July 4, 1942, in Ipara Remo, Jimi Solanke was also a folk singer, poet, and playwright, who began as a pioneer member of the Orisun Theatre Group, founded by the renowned Wole Soyinka, in 1961.
Solanke’s versatility shone through epic performances such as “Death and the King’s Horseman,” “Kurunmi,” “Kongi’s Harvest,” “The Divorce,” and “Ovaramwen Nogbaisi.”
The Oxford Times hailed him as a “Skilled Nigerian Actor,” and the New York Times recognized him as the star of an “Excellent Troupe” during a performance of Wole Soyinka’s “Kongi’s Harvest.”
Solanke hails from Ipara-Remo in Remo North Local Government Area of Ogun State.