Kitty Albertyn

(17/08/1923 – 25/01/2016). Actress, hotelier. Though Kitty Albertyn had a degree in dietetics, she was in England after World War II when the BBC advertised for an Afrikaans announcer. She applied and continued to broadcast from London for a number of years. Back in South Africa she continued her radio work and became well known as the voice of Tant Hybie in Jan Schutte’s immensely popular serial Die Du Plooys van Soetmelksvlei, initially transmitted in 1958. In 2002 she acted in a radio version of the play As ons twee eers getroud is by Gerhard J. Beukes for Radio Sonder Grense and at the age of 92 she came out of retirement to appear in an adaptation by Margot Luyt of Hennie Aucamp’s Wolf, Wolf hoe laat is dit? for the Radio Sonder Grense Arts Festival.

She also she made two films, namely ‘n Sonneblom Uit Parys (Sias Odendaal/1974) and Die Groen Faktor (Koos Roets/1984). In addition she made occasional television appearances, notably in the series Sondaarspoort (Jan Schutte/1985), two episodes of Koöperasiestories (Koos Roets/1985) and in the series Arende (Dirk de Villiers/1989 & 1992). When she married Francois Petousis in 1956 her main interest became the family’s hotel business. These included – at various times – the Trocadero Hotel, the Dorpshuis and the Townhouse in the centre of Cape Town and especially the Vineyard Hotel in Newlands, joined later by the Oude Werf in Stellenbosch.