John Cundill

CUNDILL, John. (b. Germiston, 30/05/1936 - d. Australia, **/**/2016). Hugely successful South African TV scriptwriter. Born on a gold-mine in Germiston and lived in Johannesburg although he worked for some while in Australia. His TV series The Villagers, Oh George, Westgate, 1922, and The Mantis Project glued South African to the box for months on end, and turned numerous South African actors and actresses into household names and TV personalities. Also wrote a television drama (The Outcast), a comedy (Two weeks in Paradise), The Earthmover and Duet (two one-act plays Redundant and Waiting) His only published radio play is To the End of the Road (1973 and 1987). Winner of a number of South African awards, including the Idem Award, the Olive Schreiner Award (in 1978 for the two short plays Redundant and Waiting, which were televised under the title Duet) and the SA Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns's SABC Prize for English Drama (3 times). He emigrated to Australia in 1987 and continued writing there. (See: De Beer, 1995, Joyce 1999, Gosher, 1988) [TH.JH]

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