Biography

Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi was born on August 27, 1928 in Mahlabathini, South Africa. He was an actor, known for Zulu (1964), Tokoloshe (1965) and Black as Hell...Thick as Grass (1979). He was married to Irene Mzila. He died on September 9, 2023 in Durban, South Africa.

The producers of Zulu (1964) visited him in 1963 to discuss hiring extras, but then offered him the role of the Zulu King Cetshwayo, his own great-grandfather.

A real-life distant relative of the last Zulu king Cetehwayo whom he portrayed in the film Zulu (1964).

South African political leader. Founder of Inkatha, now the Inkatha Freedom Party. From 1970-1994, he was chief minister of KwaZulu Natal (the Zululand Territorial Authority in South Africa). Subsequently home affairs minister under the multiracial governments of Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki.

Zulu tribal Chief.

In a sense we forgot we were in this country at the time. Whites and blacks could mingle without any fuss. You might say it was a very small thing but for this country, which was so racist at the time, it was something of great significance for us. The film helped restore to pride about where we come from - about how our people resisted the mightiest army in the world at the time, even though we were poorly equipped with cow-hide shields and spears. [commenting in 2014 on the filming of Zulu during apartheid]