Veteran actress , Patience Ozokwor, better
known as ‘Mama Gee’ married at 19 and
enjoyed matrimony until her husband’s
ailment became nightmarish.
She lived with the grim tale for 15 years
before the man passed on in 2002.
About family, career and legacy, the Enugu-
born thespian speaks with LANRE
ODUKOYA.
Would you say there’s anything in particular
that led you into acting?
It just came naturally, you know; it’s not
like I was planning to start acting, but I
knew that already I was acting. I did a lot
of stage acting when I was younger, so you
know whatever you like doing, you’ll always
find yourself where it is done, isn’t it?
What was your earliest influence in acting?
I was always find myself in the midst of the
people who do what I love to do. When I
was on radio, I was employed as an
announcer, but I was always acting. But I
found the radio as a normal job, that if you
do something else you will be paid for it.
I enjoyed acting, there were other things I
could do, but I preferred acting. Then I
started acting in English, Pidgin English
and Igbo language.
So, after my normal work as an announcer,
I would just go over and do the other one
and then get paid. At the end of the month,
you thank God for everything, making more
money than even your salary.
Men and women of your time said that
there were certain jobs that were
considered noble; law, medicine,
engineering and or accountancy.
Did your parents give you express
permission to choose a career in acting?
My parents didn’t have any bad thoughts
about what I chose to do because
everybody knew I was inclined towards
arts. Whenever we were together, it’s a very
big family, I try to make everybody laugh, I
try to create fun for everybody and you
know I also cook.
They know if there was an occasion for the
family, I would always be found in the
kitchen, if there was a burial I would always
be found at the helm of affairs. They’d say,
let Patience (my first name is Patience) do
this, let Patience do that, because they
know that if it’s left in my care, I would do
it to the best of my knowledge.
They couldn’t tell me to go and do
medicine when they knew I was not very
good in science. My parents felt anything
you find yourself doing that is good, then
it’s always good to do it well.
They were not very educated but they were
not unexposed anyway.
What is the size of your family, I know you
have a son who owns a record label?
Well, they are all outside the country, apart
from my first son. My first son is in Nigeria,
he is into politics; my last child is playing
football and he is in training currently.
My daughter lives in the UK with her family,
the one you said is into music lives in
London. He is in London doing his business
and combining it with the one he’s doing in
Nigeria.
My adopted child is a pastor and the other
ones are fine.
How many adopted kids do you have?
I have four, one died in March, he had
blood infection and he couldn’t make it.
You didn’t say anything about your
husband…
Oh, he was a mechanical engineer, he was
a civil servant in Enugu, he was sick for a
long time, for more than 15 years and he
died, he passed on in 2002.
Oh, sorry about that. But aside preaching
the word of God, what other things are you
dedicated to?
So many things, those are the things that
as Christians we don’t mention because
the bible says that when you let out what
you are doing, your reward will be here on
earth, but if you leave it for God, he will pay
you in Heaven.
There are some things I’m doing here but
when I pass on maybe today or tomorrow
or next year or even years to come, I want
people to remember me for being a peace
maker because I hate bickering because the
bible says that you should be at peace with
your brother.
Don’t end up in court because you don’t
even know whether the judge is a Christian
or not. So the best thing is try to settle
everything with your neighbour. And the
bible also says that “blessed are the
peacemakers, for they shall be called the
sons of God”, at least to make peace
between people who are having differences.
I also love to help the poor in any way that
I can and it’s also in the bible.
I am better than a lot of widows and there
is an adage in Igbo that says, if you are
able to solve your problems alone you have
not really done anything, begin to think of
what you are able to do for people.
That way you have affected their lives and
it’s not giving them one naira, two naira
today, give them food today and tomorrow,
you employ them, you help them get
something doing.
Those are things I will be remembered for
and also in the industry, I try to teach the
younger ones. Sometimes when they want
to shoot videos and they come on set, and
they fidget because they’re working with
someone a lot more experienced.
I tell them to calm down, I try to encourage
them, you know we are all after all still
leraning at some point in our lives too. So,
I try to help everybody that comes my way,
impact their lives, I also love to listen to
people, you know if you don’t listen to
people, you hardly get to know how you can
start to help them. So, listening to people
is one very big thing.
What’s been your experience as a single
mother?
I cannot complain because God has been
faithful. You know what it means to be
married to a man who would later take ill
for 15 years? He was in and out of coma
and when you get out of coma, there’s no
way you would be as strong as you were.
So, I got quite used to doing things alone
by the help of Al-mighty God, when my
husband was even alive, his health didn’t
allow him to do much.
How do you relax when you’re not on set?
I don’t think it’s time for me to rest yet.
The only rest that I’m getting is that if I’m
not shooting, I’d just be in the house.
Fortunately for me, I was not raised
believing I have to go to Amaka’s house,
Chinelo’s house and so on. I stay at home.
I’m a food person too. I cook a lot. And I
watch a lot of my movies, mine and
others’. It’s just lately that I slowed down
on reading novels. I loved to read novels.
Are there any of your movies you’ve
watched that moved you to tears?
You want to know the one that moved me
to tears about my characters? There are
characters I’d played in movies and after
watching them back at home, I just thanked
God it wasn’t me- it was a character.
Nearly all the movies where I played wicked
roles made me cry because I remember
what that character had done to somebody.
I do these jobs to the best of my knowledge
because I want to sit down at home, watch
and cry over what I’m doing to people.
There was a movie I did many years ago, it
was titled Prophecy- what moved me to
tears in that movie was that I was so
wicked that I seized feeding bottle from the
mouth of a new-born baby who lost his
mother and I was supposed to be taking
care of the baby.
The baby was crying, I seized his feeding
bottle and threw it away. I wept profusely,
the director stopped shooting until I was
able to control myself. Then I summoned
courage to continue. If someone had done
it in real life, I would have exposed the
fellow to the world to see.
There was another one where I went to take
my sister’s daughter from the village, what
I did to the girl, if any human being can do
it to a fellow human being, I don’t know
what God would do to that person in turn.
I met her in the kitchen, beat her so much
that she fell down the stairs, rolled down
and died from broken head and pains all
over. I’d been playing wicked roles but
those two movies are exceptionally horrible.
I doubt that any human being would do
that to anyone.
Do you have anybody who is your very close
friend, the one you can ‘t go a day without
talking to?
Like I earlier told you, I’m always on my
own. But I have very good friends, it
doesn’t mean I can’t go a day or two
without them. What if the person doesn’t
want to talk to you at a particular point in
time? Chinyere Winfred and Ngozi Ezeonu
are my very good friends.
I have some who are not superstars but
who are my friends too, as I’m in London
now, I can call them and ask about what is
happening in the industry and they’d just
tell me. I have Andy Ike and Uche Nancy
who are also my friends, they call me their
mother.
When you were a young woman, what kind
of spinster were you? Were you a happy-go
lucky-girl who had the liberty to wear
trousers and socialise like most girls?
I’m from a very strict Christian home. We
were not allowed to wear trousers and I
was a member of the Christian Union. I did
things boys could do because I was
naturally a very energetic person.
I could break firewood, and do other things
but I wasn’t dressing like boys.
No comments:
Post a Comment