IJf Blokker (born 2 September 1930) is a Dutch musician and television actor and presenter. After a professional career as a drummer, he became a well-known television actor in the 1970s playing the character Barend Servet in the

Wim T. Schippers Willem Theodoor "Wim T." Schippers (; born 1 July 1942) is a Dutch artist, comedian, television director, and voice actor. During the 1960s, he worked mostly as a visual artist, associated with the international Fluxus-movement. As a television w ...

-directed shows on

VPRO The VPRO (stylized vpro; originally an acronym for , ) is a Dutch public broadcaster, which forms a part of the Dutch public broadcasting system. Founded in 1926 as a liberal Protestant broadcasting organization, it gradually became more soc ...

television.

Biography

Blokker was born in

Den Helder Den Helder () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Den Helder occupies the northernmost point of the North Holland peninsula. It is home to the country's main naval base. From here the Royal TESO fe ...

and studied drums at the Amsterdamse Muziekschool, and worked in a number of orchestras in the Netherlands and Germany, including the '' Snip en Snap Revue''. He was drum teacher as well; one of his students was Jan Keizer, who gained fame with

BZN BZN (''Band Zonder Naam''; Dutch for "Band Without Name") was a Dutch pop group that had a string of hits from 1966 to 2007 on. BZN recorded mostly in English and French, but also had success with material in Dutch and German. History BZN star ...

. Blokker became widely known in the 1970s playing the character of Barend Servet in a series of television shows: '' De Fred Hachéshow'' (1971), ''

Barend is weer bezig ''Barend is weer bezig'' (''Barend Does it Again'') was a Dutch television show written and directed by Wim T. Schippers with Wim van der Linden, Gied Jaspars, and Ruud van Hemert and broadcast by the VPRO in 1972-1973. The show was produced by El ...

'' (1972-1973), and ''

Van Oekel's Discohoek ''Van Oekel's Discohoek'' was a Dutch television show, aired on VPRO in 1974-1975. The show, written by Wim T. Schippers and produced by Ellen Jens, starred Dolf Brouwers as the comedic character Sjef van Oekel, and parodied music television progr ...

'' (1974). These shows, conceived, written, and directed by

Wim van der Linden Wim van der Linden (1 January 1941, Amsterdam – 4 April 2001, Miami) was a Dutch photographer and film and television director. As a photographer he documented slums and subcultures in Amsterdam in the 1960s. His "Tulips", one of four experiment ...

Gied Jaspars Gied Jaspars (6 July 1939 – 14 February 1996) was a Dutch television maker who gained prominence in the 1960s and 1970s making progressive and controversial TV shows for the VPRO; he is well known for his collaboration with writer and dire ...

, and

Ruud van Hemert Ruud van Hemert (29 October 1938 – 5 July 2012) was a Dutch film director known especially for (dark) comedy. In the 1970s he helped produce and direct TV shows on VPRO before starting a career as a film director. Biography Ruud van Heme ...

and aired on

, caused consternation by having naked dancers and extras, cursing actors, and absurdist humor. After the controversial scene in which Barend Servet interviewed

Juliana of the Netherlands Juliana (; Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina; 30 April 1909 – 20 March 2004) was Queen of the Netherlands from 1948 until her abdication in 1980. Juliana was the only child of Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Sh ...

, Blokker received angry letters and phone calls, even a bomb threat. The Barend Servet character had a hit song in 1973 with the song "Waar moet dat heen, hoe zal dat gaan?" and made public appearances as late as 1981. Blokker had minor roles in the television shows ''

Zeg 'ns Aaa ''Zeg 'ns Aaa'' (''Say Aah'') was one of the longest running and most popular Dutch sitcoms, situated in the medical practice of a general practitioner and revolving around herself, her family, and her housekeeper. The title refers to the imperat ...

'', ''

SamSam ''SamSam'' is an animated television series based on a character created by Serge Bloch and directed by Tanguy de Kermel in association with Bayard Presse. His son inspired him to base the program's eponymous character on him. The series has gen ...

'', '' Pompy de Robodoll'', '' Seth & Fiona'', and ''

Filmpje! '' Filmpje!'' (, "Little Film!") is a 1995 Dutch comedy film directed by Paul Ruven. It stars Dutch TV presenter and comedian Paul de Leeuw as two of his characters, Bob de Rooy and his wife Annie de Rooy, which were both featured in a lot of his ...

'', and in the 1990 television production of the

Herman Heijermans Herman Heijermans (3 December 1864 – 22 November 1924), was a Dutch writer. Heijermans was born in Rotterdam, into a liberal Jewish family, the fifth of the 11 children of Herman and Matilda (Moses) Spiers. Painter Marie Heijermans was his ...

play '' Eva Bonheur''. In the 1980s he presented the VPRO nature program '' Puur natuur'' (with

Adeline van Lier Adeline van Lier (born 19 November 1956, at The Hague) is a Dutch television and radio presenter, currently working for the KRO. She studied graphic design and typography in The Hague, and then began working in theater. Her television debut was al ...

) and was a commentator for an

AVRO AVRO, short for Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep ("General Association of Radio Broadcasting"), was a Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep system. It was the first public broad ...

program, ''Prijs je rijk''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blokker, IJf 1930 births Living people 20th-century Dutch male actors Dutch drummers Male drummers Dutch male television actors Dutch male stage actors Dutch television presenters People from Den Helder Wim T. Schippers