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Athol Fugard

Athol Fugard

Acting

Biography

Harold Athol Lanigan Fugard (June 11, 1932 – March 8, 2025) was a South African playwright, novelist, actor and director. Widely considered South Africa's foremost playwright, he is best remembered for his anti-apartheid plays such as "Master Harold"...and the Boys and Blood Knot.

Known For

BBC Play of the Month
5.3

A BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted from October 1965 to September 1983.

BBC Play of the Month

1965
Playhouse
7.0

A one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.

Playhouse

1974
Theatre 625
7.2

Theatre 625 is a British television drama anthology series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1964 to 1968. It was one of the first regular programmes in the line-up of the channel, and the title referred to its production and transmission being in the higher-definition 625-line format, which only BBC2 used at the time.

Theatre 625

1964
Gandhi
7.6

In the early years of the 20th century, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of 'passive resistance', endeavouring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed.

Gandhi

1982
The Killing Fields
7.5

New York Times reporter Sydney Schanberg is on assignment covering the Cambodian Civil War, with the help of local interpreter Dith Pran and American photojournalist Al Rockoff. When the U.S. Army pulls out amid escalating violence, Schanberg makes exit arrangements for Pran and his family. Pran, however, tells Schanberg he intends to stay in Cambodia to help cover the unfolding story — a decision he may regret as the Khmer Rouge rebels move in.

The Killing Fields

1984
Tsotsi
6.9

A young South African boy from the Johannesburg ghetto named Tsotsi, meaning Gangster, leaves home as a child to get away from his helpless parents. Now a teenage thug, Tsotsi finds a baby in the back seat of a car he's just stolen. He decides that it is his responsibility to care for the infant and in the process learns that maybe the criminal life isn’t the best way.

Tsotsi

2005
Meetings with Remarkable Men
6.7

The story of G.I. Gurdjieff an Asian mystic who after a lifetimes study developed a form of meditation incorporating modern dance.

Meetings with Remarkable Men

1979
Master Harold... and the Boys
5.3

This movie is of Hally, an adolescent white South African. He is stuck between his intolerant father's outlook of him and those of his caretaker, Sam. Sam is a black waiter and Hally's friend and teacher. Hally is required to laugh at his father's racist jokes, by contrast, Sam exposes Hally to uplifting experiences. One day Hally was terribly humiliated by his father and Sam shows Hally how to be proud of something he can achieve.

Master Harold... and the Boys

2010
The Space: Theatre of Survival
N/A

When everything about you falls one man decides that theatre is the key, and the way to begin to unify a people. A film about the life and times of The Space theatre (a.k.a. 'The Space', 'Die Ruimte' in Afrikaans, and 'Indawo' in Xhosa).

The Space: Theatre of Survival

2019
Boesman and Lena
6.0

Intense love and hate bring a man and woman through personal tragedy.

Boesman and Lena

2000
No image
8.0

In 1955 Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson won the Mille Miglia, one of the toughest races in the calendar.This play is about the two men, and the qualities and preparation that went into that victory.

Mille Miglia

1968
Falls the Shadow:  The Life and Times of Athol Fugard
N/A

Director Tony Palmer tells the incredible life story of Athol Fugard, the prolific playwright, novelist, and director who exposed the horrors of South Africa's apartheid system for the entire world to see. Interviews with Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Yvonne Bryceland and others help to illuminate Fugard's remarkable legacy.

Falls the Shadow: The Life and Times of Athol Fugard

2012
No image
5.5

An eldery lady, living in (litterally) the middle if nowhere, and fed up with small minded apartheid ideology starts escaping into her own world of sculpting in her own back yard and along with her (coloured) assistant Malgas, creates a world of wonder in the desert. A true story by playwrite Athol Fugard with great performances all round.

The Road to Mecca

1991
Marigolds in August
8.0

Marigolds in August was written by Athol Fugard, who in the early 1980s was South Africa's most celebrated playwright. Fugard's intense political opinions were enough for the USSR to object to Marigolds being shown in the 1980 Berlin Festival, but the objections were dropped when it was learned that Fugard had already built up a strong fan following in Eastern Europe (for various reasons, the film was not released in the US until 1984). Winston Ntshona stars as a black South African gardener who travels by foot into the white community looking for a job. Upon arriving, Ntshona discovers that another black, John Kani, may have been hired for that job. Ntshoa ruins the chances for himself and Kani by accusing the other man of planning a theft. Both men are eventually hired by a fellow outcast, a white poacher (played by Anthol Fugard himself). The message would seem to be that if the have-nots of the world stick together, it matters little how badly they're treated by the "haves."

Marigolds in August

1980
In Darkest Hollywood: Cinema and Apartheid
8.0

A documentary overview and ideological critique of the South African film industry and cinema's historical relationship with apartheid.

In Darkest Hollywood: Cinema and Apartheid

1994
The Public's Right to Know
N/A

A documentary in which Kenneth Griffith, actor and filmmaker, endeavors to find the truth behind the banning of two of his films, one on the life of Michael Collins and the other on Badon Powell. Featuring interviews with the legendary 60 Minutes journalist Morley Safer, actor Peter O'Toole, Jeremy Isaacs, Benny Green, and William Deedes.

The Public's Right to Know

1974
No image
7.5

An episode in the Life of Eugène Marais

The Guest: An Episode in the Life of Eugène Marais

1977
'Master Harold'... and the Boys
6.6

When Harold, a young white man, learns that his alcoholic, handicapped father is returning home, his frustration turns into racist viciousness against the two black men who work for the family.

'Master Harold'... and the Boys

1985
Sizwe Bansi Is Dead
N/A

Two Black South Africans discover what it means to lose their passbooks, which they must carry yo prove their identity during the apartheid era

Sizwe Bansi Is Dead

1974
No image
10.0

A portrait of a marginalised couple evicted by forced removal in apartheid South Africa.

Boesman and Lena

1973