- Born
- Died
- Birth nameWilliam Modisane
- Bloke Modisane was born on August 28, 1923 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was an actor and writer, known for Dark of the Sun (1968), Softly Softly (1966) and Black Snake (1973). He was married to Ingeborg Wulffers. He died on March 1, 1986 in Dortmund, Germany.
- SpouseIngeborg Wulffers(1972 - ?)
- Took the name 'Bloke' from 'The Saint' novels of Leslie Charteris.
- Becoming frustrated by the political situation and oppression under the apartheid regime, Modisane moved in 1959 to England, where in 1963 his autobiography, Blame Me on History, was published. This detailed his despair at the bulldozing of Sophiatown (mirroring Can Themba's short story "Requiem for Sophiatown") and his frustration and anger with apartheid. As a result, the book was banned in South Africa in 1966.
- His father was murdered and his sister died of malnutrition. To make ends meet, his mother ran a shebeen.
- William "Bloke" Modisane, the eldest son of Joseph and Ma-Willie Modisane, grew up in Sophiatown, a multiracial suburb in Johannesburg, South Africa. As Modisane would write in his autobiography: "My mother wanted a better life for her children, a kind of insurance against poverty by trying to give me a prestige profession, and if necessary would go to jail whilst doing it.
- Modisane tried to facilitate non-racial progress in the arts by making concerts and theatre available to Black audiences and tried to further the efforts of the Arts Federation and the Union of South African Artists, both of which were non-racial.
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