Jimmy Johnson (1940 − 8 July 2020) was a Nigerian actor, writer and broadcaster, best known for his role Okoro of the

Nigerian Television Authority The Nigerian Television Authority or NTA is a Nigerian government-owned and partly commercial broadcast station. Originally known as Nigerian Television (NTV), it was inaugurated in 1977 with a monopoly on national television broadcasting, after ...

1980s TV series ''

The Village Headmaster ''The Village Headmaster'' (later renamed ''The New Village Headmaster'') is a Nigerian television drama series created by Olusegun Olusola and produced by Dejumo Lewis. Originally a radio drama series, the programme was Nigeria’s longest-runnin ...

''. On July 8, 2020, Johnson died at Garki hospital, Abuja at the age of 80.

Career

Beginning his stage career in Ibadan in the early 1960s, Johnson worked with

Wole Soyinka Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka (Yoruba: ''Akínwándé Olúwọlé Babátúndé Ṣóyíinká''; born 13 July 1934), known as Wole Soyinka (), is a Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist in the English language. He was awarded t ...

in the Orisun Theatre Company and at the

Mbari Club The Mbari Club was a centre for cultural activity by African writers, artists and musicians that was founded in Ibadan, Nigeria, in 1961 by Ulli Beier, with the involvement of a group of young writers including Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe.

, a centre for cultural activity that attracted writers, artists and musicians of African descent from all over Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean, including Soyinka,

Ulli Beier Chief Horst Ulrich Beier, commonly known as Ulli Beier (30 July 1922 – 3 April 2011), was a German editor, writer and scholar who had a pioneering role in developing literature, drama and poetry in Nigeria, as well as literature, drama and p ...

Chinua Achebe Chinua Achebe (; 16 November 1930 – 21 March 2013) was a Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic who is regarded as the dominant figure of modern African literature. His first novel and ''magnum opus'', ''Things Fall Apart'' (1958), occupies ...

Christopher Okigbo Christopher Ifekandu Okigbo (16 August 1932 – 1967) was a Nigerian poet, teacher, and librarian, who died fighting for the independence of Biafra. He is today widely acknowledged as an outstanding postcolonial English-language African poet an ...

Mabel Segun Mabel Segun, NNOM (born 1930) is a Nigerian poet, playwright and writer of short stories and children's books. She has also been a teacher, broadcaster, and a sports woman. Biography Born in Ondo City, Nigeria, she had her secondary school ed ...

J. P. Clark John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo (6 April 1935 – 13 October 2020) was a Nigerian poet and playwright, who also published as J. P. Clark and John Pepper Clark. Life Born in Kiagbodo, Nigeria, to an Ijaw father and Urhobo mother, Clark received hi ...

Christopher Kolade Christopher Kolade, CON (born 1932), is a Nigerian diplomat and academic. Early life and education He was born in Erin – Oke, Osun State, Nigeria, in 1932. He completed his secondar-school education at Government College, Ibadan after which he ...

Lindsay Barrett Carlton Lindsay Barrett (born 15 September 1941), also known as Eseoghene, is a Jamaican-born poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, journalist and photographer, whose work has interacted with the Caribbean Artists Movement in the UK, the Black ...

, Demas Nwoko,

Tunji Oyelana Tunji Oyelana (born 4 October 1939) is a multi-award-winning Nigerian musician, actor, folk singer, composer and once a lecturer at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Tunji Oyelana is of the Yoruba ethnic group and is a native of Nigeria. Mos ...

Jimi Solanke Jimi Solanke (born July 1942) is a Nigerian film actor, dramatist, folk singer, poet and playwright. Early life Solanke graduated from the University of Ibadan, where he obtained a diploma certificate in drama. Career After graduation, Solan ...

and

Bruce Onobrakpeya Bruce Obomeyoma Onobrakpeya (born 30 August 1932) is a Nigerian printmaker, painter and sculptor. He has exhibited at the Tate Modern in London, the National Museum of African Art of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. and the Malm� ...

. Johnson went entered into public service after the

Nigeria Civil War The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Nigerian–Biafran War or the Biafran War, was a civil war fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence f ...

(1967–1970) and worked as information and culture officer.

References

External links

* 2020 deaths Nigerian male film actors 21st-century Nigerian male actors Date of birth missing Yoruba actors Nigerian male television actors 20th-century Nigerian male actors Nigerian writers Nigerian television personalities Nigerian television presenters 1940 births {{Nigeria-actor-stub