Dottie Tiyo

Dottie Tiyo (1940-) was a dancer, actress and singer.

Biography

According to Pat Williams, Dorothy Tiyo was one of the original cast members of King Kong: An All-African Jazz Opera (1959) by Harry Bloom (book), Pat Williams (lyrics) and Todd Matshikiza (music and Nguni lyrics), though she is not credited in the official Cape Town programme. She had a role opposite the boxer Jake Ntuli in the film Tremor (Denis Scully/1961) and was in the revue African Follies (1961) when it was staged in Durban, but her career was interrupted when she and white businessman John Rudd, who was a keen promotor of African theatre, were arrested under the infamous Immorality Act. The case received much publicity in both the local and the overseas press and the couple served six months in jail. Afterwards she was part of the touring company of Alfred Herbert’s Drums of Africa show, which in November 1962 was expelled from what was then South West Africa. At this stage it is not known what became of her.

Sources

Sunday Times, 8 October 1961

Sunday Times, 25 November 1962

Pat Williams - King Kong: our knot of time and music (2017)

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