Wale Ogunyemi
{{Short description|Nigerian dramatist, film actor, prolific playwright and scholar}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Use Nigerian English|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Wale Ogunyemi
| image =
| imagesize =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1939|8|12}}
| birth_place = Osun State, Nigeria
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2001|12|17|1939|08|12}}
| othername =
| nationality = Nigerian
| citizenship = Nigerian
| alma_mater = University of Ibadan
| occupation = playwright
| parents =
| relatives =
| yearsactive = 1963–present
| known for =
The Lion and the Jewel
Kongi's Harvest
Sango
Langbodo{{cite web|url=http://www.punchng.com/feature/midweek-revue/set-to-battle-demons-on-mount-langbodo/|title=Set to battle demons on mount Langbodo|work=The Punch - Nigeria's Most Widely Read Newspaper|accessdate=18 January 2015}}
| website =
}}
Chief Wale Ogunyemi{{Audio|Yo-Wale Ogunyemi.ogg|Listen|help=no}}, OFR (12 August 1939 – 17 December 2001) was a Nigerian veteran seasoned dramatist, film actor, prolific playwright, and Yoruba language scholar.{{cite web |last1= |first1= |title=Wale Ogunyemi - Library of Congress |url=https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n82087588 |website=id.loc.gov |publisher= |access-date=29 September 2023 |language= |date=}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rAUbyu1wRCsC&q=Wale+Ogunyemi,+script+writer&pg=PA312|title=Black African Literature in English, 1997-1999|work=google.nl|isbn=9780852555750|accessdate=18 January 2015|last1=Lindfors|first1=Bernth|year=2003|publisher=James Currey Publishers }}
Early life
Ogunyemi was born on 12 August 1939 at Igbajo, a city in Osun State, southwestern Nigeria to Samuel Adeosun and Mary Ogunyemi.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9PsbR01ZUTAC&q=Wale+Ogunyemi,+a+writer+of+all+time&pg=PA24|title=Ọdún|isbn=978-9042026803|accessdate=18 January 2015|last1=Boscolo|first1=Cristina|year=2009|publisher=Rodopi }}
He attended the University of Ibadan in 1967 for a year course in drama, the same year he was appointed as a research assistant at Ibadan Institute of African Studies where he later retired.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D6PrqVKaZtgC&q=Wale+Ogunyemi,+script+writer&pg=PA774|title=European-language Writing in Sub-Saharan Africa|work=google.nl|isbn=9630538326|accessdate=18 January 2015|last1=Gérard|first1=Albert S.|year=1986|publisher=John Benjamins }}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RTzibTsqLE4C&q=Langbodo+by+Wale+Ogunyemi&pg=PA206|title=Relocating Agency|work=google.nl|isbn=9780791487761|accessdate=18 January 2015|last1=George|first1=Olakunle|date=February 2012|publisher=State University of New York Press }}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VaZx0Q2O3l8C&q=Langbodo+by+Wale+Ogunyemi&pg=PA150|title=The Columbia Guide to West African Literature in English Since 1945|work=google.nl|isbn=9780231512152|accessdate=18 January 2015|last1=Owomoyela|first1=Oyekan|date=21 October 2008|publisher=Columbia University Press }}
Career
Ogunyemi began his acting career as a seasonal actor with the new western Nigerian television service in the early 1960s.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n_wok2_QtaQC&q=Wale+Ogunyemi,+script+writer&pg=PA83|title=The Nostalgic Drum|work=google.nl|isbn=9780865438064|accessdate=18 January 2015|last1=Osofisan|first1=Femi|year=2001|publisher=Africa World Press }}
He later worked with professor Wole Soyinka, a Nobel Laureate and became a foundation member of Soyinka Orisun Theatre.{{cite web|url=http://m.thenigerianvoice.com/news/82859/1/why-wale-ogunyemi-still-lives-on-nigerias-stage-di.html|title=WHY WALE OGUNYEMI STILL LIVES ON NIGERIA'S STAGE-DIRECTOR OF LANGBODO|work=thenigerianvoice.com|accessdate=18 January 2015}}
His credible performance made him a choice for the role he played as "The bale" in The Lion and the Jewel{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dJSFAgAAQBAJ&q=Wale+Ogunyemi+featured+in+The+lion+and+the+jewel&pg=PA227|title=Who's Who in Contemporary World Theatre|work=google.nl|isbn=9781134767861|accessdate=18 January 2015|last1=Meyer-Dinkgrafe|first1=Daniel|date=20 May 2003|publisher=Routledge }} and Dende in Kongi's Harvest by professor Wole Soyinka.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WEArQ7PQgw4C&q=Wale+Ogunyemi,+script+writer&pg=PA140|title=Childhood in African Literature|work=google.nl|isbn=9780865436732|accessdate=18 January 2015|last1=Jones|first1=Eldred D.|last2=Jones|first2=Marjorie|last3=Gikandi|first3=Simon|last4=Gibbs|first4=James Morel|year=1998|publisher=Africa World Press }}
He also featured in The Beatification Of Area Boy, a play by Wole Soyinka premiered at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in 1995.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/feb/14/guardianobituaries.books|title=Obituary: Wale Ogunyemi|work=The Guardian|accessdate=18 January 2015}}
He had written and co-scripted several drama before his death in December 2001.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9KhDYdn6myMC&q=Wale+Ogunyemi,+a+writer+of+all+time&pg=PA215|title=Fertile Crossings|isbn=9042014784|accessdate=18 January 2015|last1=Deandrea|first1=Pietro|year=2002|publisher=Rodopi }}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RPQpYJcI1I4C&q=Langbodo+by+Wale+Ogunyemi&pg=PA168|title=Student Encyclopedia of African Literature|work=google.nl|isbn=9780313335808|accessdate=18 January 2015|last1=Killam|first1=G. D.|last2=Kerfoot|first2=Alicia L.|year=2008|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic }}
Filmography
- Thunderbolt: Magun (2001) as Herbalist
- The Lion and the Jewel
- Kongi's Harvest (1970) as Dende
- Sango: The Legendary African King (1997)
- The Beatification Of Area Boy{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nwhlgrVqvYkC&q=The+Beatification+Of+Area+Boy+by+Wale+Ogunyemi&pg=PA12|title=Wole Soyinka|isbn=9781139439084|accessdate=18 January 2015|last1=Jeyifo|first1=Biodun|date=13 November 2003|publisher=Cambridge University Press }}{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/11/theater/menacing-shadows-greet-dawn-in-nigeria.html|title=Menacing Shadows Greet Dawn In Nigeria|date=11 October 1996|work=The New York Times|accessdate=18 January 2015}}
- The Ijaye War (1970){{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TJ3vI7ryh8cC&q=The+Ijaye+War+(1970)+by+Wale+Ogunyemi&pg=PA115|title=Yoruba Creativity|isbn=9781592213368|accessdate=18 January 2015|last1=Falola|first1=Toyin|last2=Genova|first2=Ann|year=2005|publisher=Africa World Press }}
- Kiriji (1976){{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ujeOXwAACAAJ|title=Kiriji|accessdate=18 January 2015|last1=Ogunyẹmi|first1=Wale|year=1976}}
- The Divorce (1975){{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ubr35UeE-UQC&q=The+Divorce+(1975)+by+Wale+Ogunyemi&pg=PA272|title=The Cambridge Paperback Guide to Theatre|isbn=9780521446549|accessdate=18 January 2015|last1=Banham|first1=Martin|date=7 March 1996|publisher=Cambridge University Press }}
- Aare Akogun (1968) and Everyman *Eniyan, published in 1987)
- Langbodo (1979){{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bn1BbJevDUwC&q=Langbodo+by+Wale+Ogunyemi&pg=PA72|title=Pre-colonial and Post-colonial Drama and Theatre in Africa|work=google.nl|isbn=9781919876061|accessdate=18 January 2015|last1=Losambe|first1=Lokangaka|last2=Sarinjeive|first2=Devi|year=2001|publisher=New Africa Books }}
Awards
- Member of the Order of the Niger awarded in 1982 by the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
- Majeobaje of Okuku, a chieftaincy title conferred on him by the Olokuku of Okukuland{{cite web|url=http://article.wn.com/view/2001/12/18/Wale_Ogunyemi_eminent_playwright_dies/|title=Wale Ogunyemi, eminent playwright dies|work=World News|accessdate=18 January 2015}}
References
{{Reflist}}
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Category:Nigerian male film actors
Category:Members of the Order of the Niger
Category:Nigerian dramatists and playwrights
Category:People from Osun State
Category:Male actors from Osun State
Category:Yoruba dramatists and playwrights
Category:20th-century Nigerian male actors
Category:Yoruba-language writers
Category:Male actors in Yoruba cinema
Category:20th-century Nigerian dramatists and playwrights