Joan du Toit

Joan du Toit (1906-1978) was an actress.

Biography

Joan du Toit (possibly Johanna Susanna Malan du Toit) acted in South Africa's first two sound films, both directed in 1931 by Joseph Albrecht for African Film Productions. In Sarie Marais she played the title role, with Billy Matthews (then William Matthews) as the Boer prisoner-of-war in Ceylon who thinks back to his girl back home. In Moedertjie she plays Pierre de Wet's ex-girlfriend, who comes upon his parents in the waiting room of a railway station.

She was born on 17 April 1906 in Dunnottar in Nigel. On 7 November 1931 she married Hendrik Recht van Huyssteen in Pretoria and the couple settled in Premier Mine. According to a Government Gazette dated 01/11/1935, a Johanna Susanna Malan van Huyssteen ran the Brits Hotel. In 1958 Joan van Huyssteen acted in Shaw’s You Never Can Tell, staged by the Springs Repertory Players on the occasion of the opening of the group’s own theatre. In 1962 she was the sole judge at a competition promoted by the South African Guild of Speech Trainers at the Library Theatre. She is reported to have died in Strand on 12 April 1978.

(It’s not been verified that the above facts all apply to the Joan du Toit who made South African cinematic history.)

Sources

Le Roux, André I. & Fourie, Lilla – Filmverlede: geskiedenis van die Suid-Afrikaanse speelfilm

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