Estelle Kohler

KOHLER, Estelle. (1940-) Actress. Born in Cape Town, she studied at the University of Cape Town and at RADA. Her first stage appearance was at the Hofmeyr Theatre, Cape Town in The Tenth Man for ** (1961). She also did The Cherry Orchard (PACT, 1963) and ** in South Africa, before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford in 1966. Among her roles for them include Ophelia in Hamlet and Olivia in Twelfth Night. *Also performed in a number of British productions of South African plays over the years, including **, **, Hello and Goodbye (200*, with Antony Sher), *. She starred in Ricky Arden production of Policy for Murder for the Reps in 1963. This was her last role in South Africa before she left for London. She starred in John Fernald’s production of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard which was staged for PACT at the Alexander in 1963. It also starred Siegfried Mynhardt, Jenny Laird, Arthur Hall, Patrick Mynhardt and Fiona Fraser . She starred in Athol Fugard’s Hello and Goodbye together with Antony Sher in London. She returned in 1984 to star in Shakespeare’s Lady directed by Bill Homewood. ***(Tucker, 1997)

KOHLER, Estelle John invited her to London & she went to RADA for 2 years. Landed a role for The Royal Shakespeare Company in 1967. Famous leading lady for RSC. Did a film version of Paradise is Closing Down (Pieter-Dirk Uys) for Granada TV.

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