Gabriel Bayman

Gabriel Bayman (1917-1980) was a stage, film and radio actor.

Biography

Born Gordon Charles Bayman on 9 January, 1917,

He developed into a versatile actor whose facility with accents enabled him to play not only different nationalities, but members of South Africa’s various ethnic groups. In fact, on film and even more frequently on radio, he was well-known for his so-called "Cape Coloured" characters. He also did a large number of stag3e performances.

Contribution to South African theatre, film, media and performance

An immensely talented and versatile performer, his career spanned a large range of forms and media, working for a variety of companies and directors.

Radio work

While well-known for his work on stage and film, radio listeners were actually more frequently exposed to his voice, even though they did not always realise that it was him.

Amongst the programmes in which he featured were 33 Half Moon Street, written first by Adrian Steed and then by Douglas Laws (1965-66), General Motors on Safari, produced by Michael McCabe (1965-69), Squad Cars, directed by David Gooden (1968-85), Eloquent Silence (1969) produced by Cecil Jubber and The Challenge of Space, with Donald Monat (1969-70).

An excellent storyteller, he also brought out a number of long-playing records, including Die Stories van Oompie Boetie Baradien, Kindersprokies Oorvertel and Gabriel Bayman Croaks Cape Comic Songs.

Stage work

His stage work over the years included appearances in Any Other Business (1959), Waiting for Godot (1959), Eldorado (1960), The Amorous Prawn (1961), The King of Diamonds (1961), The Physicists (1963), Dear Me, The Sky is Falling (1963), A Flea in her Ear (1968), Canterbury Tales (musical) (1970-71).

Film appearances

As actor:

He was a valuable character actor, appearing in many South African and international films shot in the country, including Satanskoraal (Elmo de Witt/1959), Piet se Tante (Pierre de Wet/1959), Spore in die Modder (James Norval/1961), Hans en die Rooinek / Sidney and the Boer (Jamie Uys/1961), The Hellions (Ken Annakin/1961), Coast of Skeletons (Robert Lynn/1965), The Cape Town Affair / Escape Route Cape Town (Robert D. Webb/1967), Sandy the Seal (Robert Lynn/1969), Die Vervlakste Tweeling (Mario Schiess/1969), Banana Beach (David Millin/1970), Die Onwettige Huwelik / Professor du Plessis (Mario Schiess/1970), Gold Squad (Ivan Hall/1971), Pikkie (Sias Odendaal/1972), Rogue Lion (Sven Persson/1972), The Virgin Goddess (Dirk de Villiers/1973), La diosa virgen (1974), Die Square (Manie van Rensburg/1974), Sell a Million (Ian Hamilton/1975), Somer (Sias Odendaal/1975), Springbok (Tommie Meyer/1976), Kom Tot Rus (Elmo de Witt/1977), Golden rendezvous (Ashley Lazarus/1977), Zulu Dawn (Douglas Hickox/1979)

As narrator:

The Condemned Are Happy / The Urgent Queue (Jamie Uys/1958), The Fox Has Four Eyes (Jamie Uys/1959), City of Contrasts (Robert Hartford-Davis/1959), The French Frogs of French Hoek (1962), The Dutch Frogs of Stellenbosch (1963), Jan Ferreira (1963), My own, my native land / My eie, eie land (Werner Grünbauer/1964), Assegai to Javelin / Van Krygsman tot Atleet (Italo Bernicchi/1965), Great Karoo / Die Groot Karoo (Manie van Rensburg/1971), Who cares / Wie gee om (Jans Rautenbach/1973).

Television appearances

He was used in episodes of two German TV series shot in South Africa (Diamantendetektiv Dick Donald, 1971; Dr. Med. Mark Wedmann – Detektiv Inbegriffen, 1974), as well as local productions like The Villagers (Gray Hofmeyr/1977), TJ 7, Katinka Heyns/1978), Miss Candida (Hans Kühle/1982).

(FO)

Sources

The Alexander Theatre programme of The Amorous Prawn in September 1961, edition nr. 154.

Private correspondence

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