Connie Chiume, 72, Dies; ‘Black Panther’ Actor Bridged S. Africa Eras
Connie Chiume, whose decades-long career took her from being an early Black television actor in South Africa to the Marvel superhero universe with the “Black Panther” films, died on Tuesday in Johannesburg. She was 72.
Her death, in a hospital, was announced on Wednesday by her family in a statement. It did not specify the illness for which she was being treated.
Ms. Chiume’s career spanned more than 40 years, from the last days of apartheid, when few Black actors appeared on television, to the boom years of the post-apartheid entertainment industry, when Black performers and filmmakers began rewriting its script. Ms. Chiume continued to work as streaming services brought new job opportunities, introducing her to a new generation of viewers.
Her Hollywood recognition came late in life, when she appeared in Marvel’s “Black Panther” in 2018 and returned for the sequel, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” in 2022. Ms. Chiume played the elder of a mining tribe who had a seat in the throne room of Wakanda, a fictional African kingdom that had escaped colonialism and that holds a deep symbolic significance for fans of the films and the comic books on which they are based.
Ms. Chiume had a small part, but it was, she said, the recognition she had dreamed of, appearing alongside the Hollywood actors Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o and Angela Bassett.
“I was cast with them, which means the director saw something in me, that I’m also on that caliber,” she told the South African outlet News24 in 2022.
Gabisile Connie Chiume was born on June 5, 1952, in Welkom, a mining town in South Africa’s Free State province. Her father was a migrant worker from Malawi, and her mother was South African.
Ms. Chiume traveled to a neighboring province, the Eastern Cape, to finish high school and then began training as a nurse. She later switched paths and studied to be a teacher, one of the few professional options available to Black South Africans during apartheid.
Ms. Chiume, however, yearned for the stage. In 1977, as South Africa was roiled by student uprisings, she left the country and joined a touring musical group, traveling to Israel and Greece. She then joined the cast of the well-known South African musical “Ipi Ntombi.” While living abroad, she also appeared in productions of “Porgy and Bess” and “The Little Shop of Horrors,” according to South Africa’s Ministry of Sport, Arts and Culture.
As apartheid began to disintegrate, Ms. Chiume returned to South Africa and starred in several television series that gave Black characters more nuance and agency. As South Africa became a multiracial democracy, the apparatus of the South African Broadcasting Corporation was handed over to writers, directors and producers of color who created film and television that depicted the grit of township life as well as the lighter side of racial reconciliation.
Television series also focused on social cohesion, and then on education around the AIDS pandemic. Soon enough, telenovelas became the staple, and then came the streaming services.
Ms. Chiume forged a resilient career across all these platforms, with roles in at least two dozen series and films, from comedy to drama. She picked up local awards along the way, and became a household name in South Africa.
“When I started, there wasn’t even a TV station for Black people,” she told News24. Still, acting in a nascent industry came with constant insecurity, even for veteran actors.
“There’s been progress in that aspect,” she said, “and the money that we were earning then, it’s much, much better now. But there’s still a lot we can do to change the landscape.”
In the later years of her career, Ms. Chiume was often cast in matronly roles, including in Beyoncé’s 2020 visual album, “Black is King.” But the mothers and grandmothers she played might deliver a villainous back-stabbing as much as they would a warm hug.
“She had a certain intelligence about her, like she revered story and character so much that she never portrayed caricatures,” said Karabo Lediga, an independent filmmaker in South Africa. Ms. Lediga took a chance and invited Ms. Chiume to star in her 2020 short film, “What Did You Dream?”
To Ms. Lediga’s surprise, Ms. Chiume not only agreed, but her presence on set also created a safe space for young filmmakers and the child actors who starred alongside her.
“There’s a stamp of approval that she immediately gave to the film that made people take it more seriously,” said Ms. Lediga.
Ms. Chiume is survived by her three children and five grandchildren.
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