Jok Uys

Jok Uys (b. 1919 – d. 1980) was an occasional film actor, writer and director.

Biography

Johannes Dirk Jacobus (Jok) Uys was born in Boksburg on 25 June 1919 to Wynand Jacobus Victor Uys and his wife, Maria Elizabeth Johanna Jacobs. He was the older brother of noted filmmaker Jamie Uys. Their father was a schoolteacher and initially the brothers followed in his footsteps, qualifying at Normaal Kollege in Pretoria and then teaching mathematics and science. Then they both turned to farming, with Jok having been a pilot in the South African Air Force in 1939. For a time he was a radio announcer and then started a photographic business.

He gained experience as a school photographer and being able to borrow a movie camera, shot some of the early footage for Jamie’s first feature as director, Daar Doer in die Bosveld (1951). He co-produced, co-scripted and acted in Jamie’s Geld Soos Bossies / Money to Burn (1955) and, with Jamie, acted in Werner Grünbauer’s Paul Krüger (1956). Together the brothers also made the short Jabulani Afrika, which was shown at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival. According to Filmverlede, he and Elmo de Witt were responsible for the camerawork of Die Bosvelder, the more polished 1958 remake of Daar Doer in die Bosveld . In addition he scripted the sponsored short Medisyne Sonder Pille (1960), directed by Jamie. A planned solo effort, entitled Kalahari, did not materialize.