Kenneth Hendel

Kenneth Hendel (1931-2006) was an English-born actor and broadcaster who lived and worked in South Africa for the last 34 years of his life.

Biography

Youth

Kenneth Hendel was born and spent his youth in the East End of London, England.

Training

He graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) [1] in London.

Career

After completing his training at RADA he started working as a professional actor in London. His credits include many West End productions and roles in television dramas and series produced in England. In the early 1970s he starred opposite Honor Blackman [2] in Frederick Knott's [3] popular drama Wait Until Dark [4] and in 1972 Pieter Toerien brought him to South Africa for a production of this play. He remained in South Africa, where he worked on stage, television and mostly on radio at the SABC until 1988 when he was rendered paraplegic after unsuccessful spinal surgery and forced to take early retirement from the SABC. He remained in South Africa until his death in 2006 in Johannesburg.

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance

Stage productions include:

The Toerien-Firth Company production of Wait Until Dark (1972);

The Man in Not Adultery, but Adulteration, opposite Bess Finney (1974);

Dr Freytag in The Happiness Cage (1974);

Gonzalo in The Tempest, staged by PACT (1975);

Dr Adcock in Who Saw Him Die? (1975);

For the official opening of the Market Theatre on 19 October 1976 Kenneth Hendel played the role of the Marquis de Sade in The Company’s production of Peter Weiss’s Marat/Sade directed by Barney Simon.

Golda, directed by Leonard Schach for PACT (1978);

The Monkey Walk in the Baxter Studio (1986)

As a stage director his productions include: Sugar and Spice with Bess Finney in the Baxter Studio (1978); The Killing of Sister George in the Baxter Studio (1979); Misery in the Baxter Studio (19**);

TO BE EDITED

Played “Roat” in Wait Until Dark, “Pa Fu” in Yin Yang Cinders, “the Man” in Murder in the Mind, “Dr Freytag in The Happiness Cage and “Adcock” in Who Saw Him Die. Also worked overseas. (SACD 1974)

Fopr a complete filmography see IMDb [5] - roles in feature films include: Davidson in The Reckoning (1970); The Pimp in Cool It Carol (1970); Rodriguez in Die Screaming Marianne (1971); Dr Hartmann in Prisoners of the Lost Universe (1983); Dr James Barry, a TV-film for SABC TV-1 (1976);

Sources

Artslink [6]

Tucker, 1997.

Go to ESAT Bibliography

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