C. de Wet Marais

C. de Wet Marais (b. 11/09/1903 – d. 12/01/1972) was an occasional actor.

Biography

In 1933, The Netherlands celebrated the 400th anniversary of the birth of William of Orange. In the Orange Free State a contribution was made by two performances of the play Joan Woutersz, written by the Dutch dramatist Hendrik Jan Schimmel. They took place in the Grand Theatre in Bloemfontein and the title role was played by Christiaan de Wet Marais, then associated with the Hanekom se Toneelskool, which had been established in 1932. The producer was Willem Frederik Mondriaan, a Dutch-born journalist and the brother of the great modernist painter Piet Mondriaan.

In 1936 Marais married the Dutch-born Anna Christina Snoek (1903-1941), who had appeared on the stage with him in Joan Woutersz. On the marriage certificate his profession was given as “apteker” (pharmacist) and as he was not a full-time actor, this is probably the way he made his living. However, his involvement with the theatre remained. He translated the play Three Wise Fools by Austin Strong into Afrikaans and as Die Drie Wyse Dwase it was produced by Johanna van Vuuren by the Kaapstadse Afrikaanse Toneelvereniging at the Afrikaner Koffiehuis. The following year he played the role of Willem Adriaan van der Stel in the film Die Bou van ‘n Nasie (Joseph Albrecht/Andries A. Pienaar).

In 1946 he appeared on the stage in the Emlyn Williams adaptation of Turgenev’s A Month in the Country. It had an illustrious cast and was staged at the Standard Theatre in Johannesburg and the Alhambra Theatre in Cape Town. He also acted in three more films: Pinkie se Erfenis (Pierre de Wet/1946), Geboortegrond (Pierre de Wet/1946) and Pantoffel-regering (Ronald Brantford/1947). He died in 1972 and he and his wife are buried in the Braamfontein Cemetery. (FO)