Olu Jacobs, whose six-decade career took him from the stages of London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art to the founding years of Nollywood, and who came to be regarded as one of the elder statesmen of Nigerian cinema, died Tuesday. He was 84.
His death was confirmed to TANTV by his son, Soji Jacobs, who has served as the family’s spokesman during past health rumors involving his father. “It is with gratitude to God for a life well lived and fought, that we announce the passing of our dear husband, father, grandfather and uncle,” the statement read, referring to him by the nickname “The Lion of Lufodo.” The family asked that its privacy be respected and did not immediately disclose a cause of death, though Mr. Jacobs had for several years been reported to be living with Lewy body dementia, a condition that had gradually curtailed his public appearances .
Soji Jacobs said “Olu Jacbos passed on this morning, Wednesday September 16, at 1:50am Nigerian time”.
Born Oludotun Baiyewun Jacobs on July 11, 1942, in Abeokuta, in what is now Ogun State, he belonged to a generation of Nigerian performers who came of age just as the country itself was emerging from colonial rule. He trained formally at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, an unusual credential among his contemporaries, and it opened doors that few Nigerian actors of his era could access. Long before Nollywood existed as an industry or even a name, Mr. Jacobs was working steadily in British television and film, appearing in the drama series “The Crezz” in 1976 and later in “Ashanti” (1979), “The Dogs of War” (1980) and “Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend” (1985) .
That international grounding distinguished him when he returned his focus to Nigeria, where the film industry that would become known as Nollywood was just taking shape in the late 1980s and 1990s. Mr. Jacobs went on to appear in more than 100 Nigerian films over the following decades, including “Violated,” “The Last Wedding,” “Master Stroke,” “Oloibiri” and “The Royal Hibiscus Hotel,” building a body of work that ranged from courtroom dramas to domestic comedies . Colleagues frequently described him not merely as a working actor but as a kind of institutional memory for the industry — a performer whose training and discipline set a bar that younger Nigerian actors measured themselves against. He was often mentioned in the same breath as Pete Edochie in discussions of who most shaped Nollywood’s formative decades, debates that continued among fans and critics even in his final years .
In 1981, Mr. Jacobs met the actress Joke Silva at the National Theatre in Lagos. They married in 1985, and the marriage endured for more than four decades, making them one of the most recognizable couples in Nigerian entertainment. Ms. Silva built her own prominent career as an actress and as a trainer of younger performers through a drama school she founded, and the couple was frequently held up as a model of partnership within an industry not always known for stability in its public marriages .
For his contributions to Nigerian arts and culture, Mr. Jacobs was named a Member of the Order of the Federal Republic, one of the country’s national honors. In recent years, as rumors of his death circulated repeatedly on Nigerian social media — rumors that the Actors Guild of Nigeria and his family were forced to publicly deny on more than one occasion — his actual health struggles remained largely private, in keeping with the family’s wishes .
Mr. Jacobs is survived by his wife, Joke Silva; their children; and a grandchild. Funeral arrangements had not been announced as of Tuesday night.
