Anton Ackermann

(1911-1971) Afrikaans actor, director and theatre manager. (The name is sometimes wrongly written Anton Ackerman)

Biography
Married the actress, Sannie Uys, whom he had renamed Pikkie Uys.

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
Besides his role as theatre producer and actor for stage and film, he was involved in an attempt to form an Afrikaans professional actor's body (Die Toneelbond) in 1936, but nothing came of it.

Stage career
Like so many of his generation he had learnt his craft from the example of the Paul de Groot and André Huguenet companies and tended to assume an artificial stage accent. For example, he was castigated by F.E.J. Malherbe for his "Huguenet-Dutch" accent in Koop my Blomme.

Started as a professional actor for the Wena Naudé-Van Zyl Geselskap, with a role in Die Verstoteling. (1933). In 1935 he left to found his own company, the Ackermann-Nell Geselskap, with * Nell as financier. (The company was later renamed simply the Anton Ackermann Geselskap.) When leaving he took an actress, Sannie Uys, with him, renaming her  Pikkie Uys, the name under which she became nationally known.

He toured the country between 1935 and 1940 with his own company, for which he produced and acted in numerous plays including Hand van die Gereg, Wittebroodsdae and an acclaimed Afrikaans version of Shaw’s Pygmalion (Koop my Blomme).

Film career
The couple, and especially Pikkie Uys, also became popular film stars in the late 1940s.

Awards, etc
[TH]

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