Patrick Mynhardt
Patrick Mynhardt (1932-2007) was a gifted bilingual (Afrikaans and English) actor and enjoyable eccentric.
Contents
Biography
Born on 12 June 1932 in Bethulie in the Free State, of an Afrikaans father and an Irish mother, he was educated at Bethulie School and De La Salle College in East London, South Africa. He then spent what he referred to as three “disastrous” years at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, where he did, however, discover that he had a flair for acting.
He joined the National Theatre Organisation in 1953 as an actor and toured the country for a year and a half appearing in English and Afrikaans plays.
In 1954 he left for London where he intended to spend three years at the Central School of Drama, but left after only one term and pursued his drama studies privately. He eventually landed his first job in a repertory company. Performing on stage and for the BBC in Britain, he worked with such luminaries as Peter Sellers, Burt Lancaster, Anthony Quinn, Richard Harris, Peter O’Toole, Michael Caine and Judi Dench.
He returned to South Africa at the end of 1960 to make a career for himself in theatre, film and TV.
He died on stage in London on 25 October 2007 at the age of 75 while performing in his one-man show Boy from Bethulie at the Jermyn Street Theatre in the West End. He is buried at the Westpark Cemetery in Randburg, in a grave adjacent to that of Herman Charles Bosman (1905-1951).
Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
Mynhardt was a star of the stage, film, television and radio for more than 50 years in South Africa and overseas. He appeared in more than 150 stage productions (in South Africa and the United Kingdom), 100 local and international films and about 100 television plays and serials, some local and some abroad.
As actor
Stage
His stage credits in South Africa include Iepekonders (1953), The King of Diamonds (1961), A Touch of the Poet (1961), Jonkvrou Edelwater (1962), Guilty Party (1962), Policy for Murder (1963), Christie, Montserrat (Equierdo 1963), The Playboy of the Western World (Sean Keogh 1963), The Cherry Orchard (PACT, 1963), Rashomon, directed by Joan Brickhill in 1965, The Deputy (1965), Twelve Angry Men (1965), The Devils (1966), The Beaux' Stratagem (Fiogard, 1966), War and Peace (Napoleon, 1966), Staircase (1967, Harry), Dodedans (Edgar, 1967), Die Spel van Liefde en Toeval (Pasqual, 1967), Staircase (the Langford-Inglis Company, 1967 as Harry), Fanny (1968), The Crucible (PACT 1975), Conspiracy for PACT at the Alexander Theatre in 1976, Die Verminktes (1977), Die Vader (1978), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1978), Sly Fox for The Company at the Market Theatre in 1979, The Siege of Nugget Street (1979), The Royal Hunt of the Sun(1981), The Taming of the Shrew (1981), Karoo Grand (1983), Translations (1985), Long Day's Journey into Night (1989), Nemesis (1989), Houd-den-Bek (1990), Die Sakeman van Venesië (1991) and Mirakel (1992).
The one-man shows
Mynhardt is most memorable in South Africa for his one-man performances. He created and performed in a number of these using material from the works of Herman Charles Bosman, particularly Bosman's "Oom Schalk Lourens" stories. Over the years (and up to the time of his death), he performed his one-man shows at embassies, official residences and theatres in Brussels, London, New York, Washington and also at the California Springbok Club in San Jose and San Francisco.
The Bosman shows include:
- A Sip of Jerepigo (1969)
- More Jerepigo (1973)
- Just Jerepigo (1981)
- Another Sip of Jerepigo (1989)
- Cold Stone Jug (2002)
- Tjeerio Jerepigo (2003)
Mynhardt's autobiography:
- The Boy from Bethulie (1982)
Film and TV
Film
Roles in South African films include Vadertjie Langbeen (1955), Nor the Moon by Night (1958), The Hellions (1961), As Ons Twee Eers Getroud Is! (1962), Stropers van die Laeveld (1962), Seven against the Sun (1964), The Naked Prey (1965), Diamond Walkers (1965), Africa Shakes (1966), Kavaliers (1966), The Cape Town Affair (1967), The Jackals (1967), Majuba: Heuwel van Duiwe (1968), Vrolike Vrydag 13de (1969), Petticoat Safari (1969), Lied in My Hart (1970), Scotty & Co. (1970), Jannie totsiens (1970), Shangani Patrol (1970), Pressure Burst (1971), Three Bullets... for a Long Gun (1971), Z.E.B.R.A. (1971), Die Voortrekkers (1973), Saboteurs (1974), Forever Young, Forever Free (1975), Olie Kolonie, (1975), Kniediep... (1975), One Away (1976), Terug na Thaba (1977), Game for Vultures (1979), Zulu Dawn (1979), Killing Heat (1981), Die kersietuin (1983), Hedda Gabler (1983), Torn Allegiance (1984), Broer Matie (1984), Die Vuurtoring (1984), Skollie (1984), Eendag vir Altyd (1985), Galery (1985), Dodedans (1985), Arme moordenaar (1986), Vyfster: Die Slot (1986), Scavengers (1988), The Emissary (1988), Rising Storm (1989), Oddball Hall (1990), A Private Life (1991), Orkney Snork Nie! (die movie): 'Dis Lekker By Die See' (1992), Lipstiek Dipstiek (1994), Hearts and Minds (1995), Operation Delta Force 2: Mayday (1997), Pride of Africa (1997), Dr Lucille: The Lucille Teasdale Story (2001), Cold Stone Jug (2003), Stander (2003).
International film and tv credits include A Rough Diamond (1956), Mister Charlesworth (1957), The Killing Stones (1958), Quatermass and the Pit (1958), Danger Within (1959), Carlton-Browne of the F.O. (1959), My Side of the Story (1959), I'm All Right Jack (1959), The Distinguished Gathering (1959), The Watching Eye (1960), Deadline Midnight (1960), Macbeth (1960), Evidence in Concrete (1960), Danger Man (1961), Till the Day I Die (1961), Diamanten sind gefährlich (1965), Der Rivonia-Prozess (1966), Diamantendetektiv Dick Donald (1971), John Ralling - Abenteuer um Diamanten (1975), Les diamants du président (1975), Pour tout l'or du Transvaal (1979), The Lion's Share (1985), A Good Man in Africa (1994).
Television
The brilliant local TV drama Vyfster (1982, second series 1986) made him a household name as the menacing prison "don" called "Papa", while his ongoing role as the grandfather in the popular sitcom Suburban Bliss (1996) kept him in the public eye for much of the 1990s. Other tv shows include TJ 7 (1977), Phoenix en Kie (1979), Oh George! (1981), Die Avonture van Joachim Verwey (1981), Brood Vir My Broer (1982), Skooldae (1984), Geknelde Land (1984), Hoekie vir Eensames (1986), Ballade vir 'n Enkeling (1987), Dot en Kie (1988), Saartjie (1989), Die Binnekring (1990), The Fourth Reich (1990), The Visual Bible: Matthew (1993), The Visual Bible: Acts (1994), Jackpot (1996).
As director
He directed Die Blinde Vegter for TRUK in 1965.
Awards, etc
For Dodedans he won the Anton de Waal Trophy for the best Afrikaans performance of the year, 1967.
In 1991 he was once again nominated for the Anton de Waal Trophy for his lead role in Die Sakeman van Venesië ("The Merchant of Venice").
In 2002 he was a recipient of a Johannesburg Theatre Management Lifetime Achievement Award at the FNB Vita Awards presented at the Theatre on the Square, Sandton.
Sources
Tucker, 1997.
http://www.patrickmynhardt.com/Roles.asp?Page=1
Boy from Bethulie programme notes, 1983.
Oggendblad, 6 May 2004.
The Citizen, 26 October 2007.
Tjeerio Jerepigo programme, 2003.
'Theatre icon Patrick Mynhardt dies'. Mail & Guardian. 25 October 2007.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0562782/
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