Orlando Martins
| Orlando Martins | |
|---|---|
| Born |
8 December 1899 Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria |
| Died | 25 September 1985 (aged 85) Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria |
| Other names | Pa Orlando Martins (Epega Family Great Uncle) |
| Years active | 1931–71 |
Orlando Martins (8 December 1899 – 25 September 1985) was a pioneering Nigerian film and stage actor. In the late 1940s, he was one of England's most prominent and leading black actors, and in a poll conducted in 1947, he was listed among England's top 15 favourite actors.
Martins was born in Lagos, Nigeria, to a civil servant Brazilian father. He was related to the Benjamin Epega family. In 1913 he was enrolled in Eko Boys High School but dropped out. During World War I he served as a stoker on the RMS Mauretania to avenge German cruelty to his family. Following the end of the war, he moved to London; on arrival in 1919 he had no source of income and had to look for ways to earn money. Around the same time, the Lyceum Theatre was looking for 'supers' at the rate of three shillings per day. Martins joined the theatre and from there took on various theatre jobs to survive. In 1923, Sanger's Circus wanted to have someone to display pythons, Martins took the part starting his performing career in the circus. He also worked as a wrestler (known as "Black Butcher Johnson").
In 1920, Martins was an extra acting with the Diaghilev ballet company, and was on the tour with the British company of Show Boat as a professional singer. He was an extra in silent films, having made his debut in If Youth But Knew (1926). In the 1930s he went into acting on the London stage,playing Boukman in Toussaint L'Ouverture, a 1936 drama by C. L. R. James that starred the legendary Paul Robeson, with whom Martins had featured in the 1935 film Sanders of the River.
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