Gabriel Bayman
(b. 09/01/1917 - d. 01/06/1980). Actor. Gabriel Bayman was a versatile actor whose facility with accents enabled him to play not only different nationalities, but members of South Africa’s various ethnic groups. In fact, on film and even more frequently on radio, he was well-known for his “Cape Coloured” characters. Though he did occasional stage work, including Waiting for Godot (1959) for the National Theatre Organisation (NTO), The Amorous Prawn (1961) at the Alexander Theatre, The Physicists (1963) for the Langford-Inglis Company, A Flea in Her Ear (1968) for the Johannesburg Repertory Players and Canterbury Tales (1970-71) at the Civic Theatre in Johannesburg, radio listeners were frequently exposed to his voice, even though they did not always realise that it was him. Amongst the programmes in which he featured were 33 Half Moon Street, written first by Adrian Steed and then by Douglas Laws (1965-66), General Motors on Safari, produced by Michael McCabe (1965-69), Squad Cars, directed by David Gooden (1968-85), Eloquent Silence (1969) produced by Cecil Jubber and The Challenge of Space, with Donald Monat (1969-70). He also brought out a number of long-playing records, including Die Stories van Oompie Boetie Baradien, Kindersprokies Oorvertel and Gabriel Bayman Croaks Cape Comic Songs. He was married to Joyce Fourie, who was on the staff of Gallery 101 in Johannesburg.
STAGE: (as actor): Waiting For Godot (1959), The Amorous Prawn (1961), The Physicists (1963), Dear Me, The Sky Is Falling (1963), A Flea In Her Ear (1968), Canterbury Tales (1970-71).
FILMS (as actor): Satanskoraal (Elmo de Witt/1959), Piet se Tante (Pierre de Wet/1959), Hans en die Rooinek / Sidney and the Boer (Jamie Uys/1961), Spore in die Modder (James Norval/1961), The Hellions (Ken Annakin/1961), Coast of Skeletons (Robert Lynn/1965), The Cape Town Affair / Escape Route Cape Town (Robert D. Webb/1967), Die Vervlakste Tweeling (Mario Schiess/1969), Sandy the Seal (Robert Lynn/1969), Banana Beach (David Millin/1970), Die Onwettige Huwelik / Professor du Plessis (Mario Schiess/1970), Gold Squad (Ivan Hall/1971), Pikkie (Sias Odendaal/1972), The Virgin Goddess (Dirk de Villiers/1973), Die Square (Manie van Rensburg/1974), Somer (Sias Odendaal/1975), Kom Tot Rus (Elmo de Witt/1977), Golden rendezvous (Ashley Lazarus/1977).
FILMS (as narrator): The Condemned Are Happy / The Urgent Queue (Jamie Uys/1958), The Fox Has Four Eyes (Jamie Uys/1959), City of Contrasts (Robert Hartford-Davis/1959), The French Frogs of French Hoek (1962), The Dutch Frogs of Stellenbosch (1963), Jan Ferreira (1963), My own, my native land / My eie, eie land (Werner Grünbauer/1964), Assegai to Javelin / Van Krygsman tot Atleet (Italo Bernicchi/1965), Great Karoo / Die Groot Karoo (Manie van Rensburg/1971).
RADIO (as actor): 33 Half Moon Street (1965-66), General Motors on Safari (Michael McCabe/1965-69), The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Illustrious Client (Adrian Steed/1967), Squad Cars - series (David Gooden/1968-1985), Eloquent Silence (Cecil Jubber/1969), The Challenge of Space (1969-70).
TELEVISION (as actor): Diamantendetektiv Dick Donald (episode) (1971), Dr. Med. Mark Wedmann – Detektiv Inbegriffen (episode) (1974), The Villagers – Series 2 (episodes) (Gray Hofmeyr/1977), Miss Candida (episodes) (Hans Kuhle/1982).
Sources
The Alexander Theatre programme of The Amorous Prawn in September 1961, edition nr. 154.
Private correspondence
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