Veteran actor, Stephen Alajemba, has said only Pete Edochie is older than him in the Nigerian movie industry, in terms of number of years spent in the profession.
Speaking in a recent interview with popular YouTuber, Yan Kontent Factory, he said while he respects the ‘Things Fall Apart’ actor, the title of the father of Nollywood belongs to late Solomon Eze, popularly known as Mike Orihedịmma.
Alajemba said; “When you talk about Igbo movie industry, Mike Orihedịmma is the first person to be mentioned. He is the one that trained most of the people you see acting today. He was emulated by Kenneth Nnebue and Pauloo in writing ‘Living In Bondage.’
“When it comes to the movie industry, the only person I respect is Pete Edochie. All the people in the movie industry today, anybody that says he is older than me in the industry, should tell us the first movie he did and what year it came out. It is only Pete Edochie that I can say that he is older than me because of Things Fall Apart.”
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Nigerian movie star, Kanayo O. Kanayo, has claimed to senior veteran actor, Pete Edochie in the domestic movie industry popularly called Nollywood.
The 61-year-old thespian admitted that Edochie did the first cinematic motion picture which was ‘Things Fall Apart’ but noted that he was in Nollywood four years before Edochie made his debut.
Kanayo said; “I cannot be written off the history or the story when it is told of Nollywood. You can’t take it away that Kenneth Nnebue made the first professionally made home video in 1992.
“You can’t take it away from those who took part in ‘Living in Bondage’, just like you can’t take it away from the fact that ‘Things Fall Apart’ which Pete Edochie took part in was not a home video. It was a cinema.
“So if you write a story now and say Pete Edochie is older than me in Nollywood, I will contest it because he came four years after. So in Nollywood I’m his senior. It is not a matter of biological age.
“So, when it comes to cinema, of course, then you start going to Baba Hubert Ogunde in 1940s or 1950s. This is history. History has no romanticism.”
