‘He never gave a true picture of the state of his health’ – actor on former Isidingo colleague

South African actor Jack Devnarain has reflected on the life of his former Isidingo colleague Darlington Michaels following news of Michaels’ passing.

“He had the rare ability to connect with everybody working on set, including the actors and the technical crew,” Devnarain told The Citizen on Sunday morning.

Michaels, who was affectionately referred to by his character name from the SABC 3 soapie, Georgie “Papa G” Zamdela passed away on Friday.

“He was such a born natural entertainer that whenever he was on set, it seemed as if shooting the scene was secondary because everybody wanted to connect with him on a personal level.”

ALSO READ: Isidingo’s Georgie ‘Papa G’ Zamdela dies after illness

An ‘absolute professional’

Devnarain, who portrayed the character of Rajesh Kumar on Isidingo, spoke glowingly of Michaels as a colleague.

“Of course he was such an absolute professional. Theatre trained as well, he understood the discipline and rigours of working as a professional actor.

“The difference with Darlington is that he delivered his work and presented himself on set…it was absolutely effortless. In fact, he made it seem fun and light and that’s what he meant for everybody,” averred Devnarain.

It had been a while since Devnarain spoke with Michaels. “The last time I connected with Darlington was on a phone call during Covid. I knew that he was quit sickly,” shared Devnarain.

“I knew that his health had deteriorated, particularly during Covid because he didn’t have a lot of support around him aside from close friends and family.

But he didn’t have a medical aid; it was exceptionally difficult for him to get around and to continue working.  He was very reliant on support, especially during Covid and I was worried about him.”

Devnarain said Michaels was a strong independent person who never wanted to dwell of the adversities of life.

“He would always say he’s getting along and doing fine. So he was exceptionally brave and never gave a true picture of the state of his health.”

The thespian said he felt contrite that the two didn’t speak more frequently.  

“I regret that we didn’t really have ongoing communication over the years because he was very much a senior person to me, he was a veteran and I worried about him knowing his health.”

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SA actors’ working conditions

Michaels was outspoken about the state of working conditions for South African actors whose contracts do not include residual royalties.  

After Michaels’ passing, Devnarain posted photos of his Isidingo colleague and that of recently late actress, Connie Chiume.

He did this to highlight the plight of South African actors when it comes to the acknowledgment they get from their industry and the government.

“As far as I know, you sign a contract; there is a fee that is supposed to be paid out as a royalty for the repeats of which you get 25% of what you were earning per episode,” Michaels said in an interview a few years ago.

“People have this perception that I am expensive,” he said. “It’s not like that. We suffer. What you are witnessing is unadulterated poverty. We’re looking left, looking right. But I could still take many casual roles at my age.”

ALSO READ: SA actors have every reason to demand a better deal

Government fails the actors

“It’s tragic again that Darlington Michaels is another one of those great veterans, the stalwarts of the industry who’ll die now without being able to pass on any residual income to his estate or his family, to his dependents because our country has failed to provide any sort of protection, we haven’t revised our statutory provisions.”

Devnarain said there is nothing in South African law that allows an actor to claim royalties or residuals for the “ongoing exploitation” of their work.

“What it means is that, Darlington’s work on Isidingo and all his other film and TV projects will continue to be seen and broadcast by the various broadcasters that produce the shows.

It will be seen around the world, it will be streamed, it‘ll be licensed, people will continue to make money of his work and his image, everybody else but him. He is of course but one example.”

Devnarain who is also the Chairman of the South African Guild of Actors (SAGA) said the government hasn’t contributed to the welfare of South African actors.

“Our government has completely failed to effect any kind of revision of our statutory protections. We are openly being exploited by producers and broadcasters and those are the two groups that continuously and shamelessly  stand in the way of any kind of reform of any kind of transition into a more fair and equitable system where actors can earn some form of royalties in order to sustain our lives,” he said.

“So it’s an industry failure, it’s a failure on behalf of our government and it’s an absolute shame that we have failed to effect the transformation that we were trying to achieve since 1994. We are the one industry that has failed transformation in 30 years.”

Devnarain said this treatment of actors is unique to South Africa and compared it to countries such as Brazil, Australia and New Zealand. 

“You will find that those creative sectors have all guaranteed actors rights to earn royalties, you will find that the global north has already secured those rights in some form of union or collective agreement  and in some form of statutory provision,”

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