SHALEEN SURTIE-RICHARDS | ‘She was our horizon, leading us forward’ – 4 must-reads | Channel

Shaleen Surtie-Richards’ body was discovered on Monday in a guesthouse she was staying in. (PHOTO: Gallo Images / Foto24 / Bongiwe Gumede)

• South African actor Shaleen Surtie-Richards died on Monday, 7 June. 
• Best known for her title role in the 1988 film Fiela se Kind and as Ester Willemse in the M-Net soap opera Egoli: Place Of Gold, Shaleen was  awarded a special provincial funeral on Sunday.
• The beloved actor is remembered for having a “zest for life” and living life “fully” and “honestly”.

South African actor Shaleen Surtie-Richards died on Monday, 7 June. She was 66. 

The actor, who was found dead in a guest house in Cape Town, had the week before wrapped filming scenes for the Afrikaans telenovela Arendsvlei in which she portrays the role of a retired nurse, Muriel Foster.

A funeral service took place on Sunday, where friends and family remembered Shaleen for having a “zest for life.” 

The funeral service of veteran actor Shaleen Surtie-Richards on Sunday, 13 June at Durbanville Memorial Park, Cape Town.

Photo: Gallo Images, Misha Jordaan

Her death has once again shone a spotlight on the long-stalled Performers Protection Amendment Bill (PPAB) that would ensure that South African performers are paid residuals for the rebroadcast of their work on TV.

“Shaleen was loved by the people, but she was abandoned by the system,” said Shaleen’s longtime friend Rif’at Browers during the funeral service on Sunday. 

As tributes continue to pour in across the country, Shaleen is remembered as a trailblazer who paved the way for actors in South Africa. With a celebrated career spanning nearly four decades, the actor was instrumental in ensuring female voices be heard, and she moved a nation with the characters she passionately brought to life. 

4 MUST-READ ARTICLES:

1. ‘Loved by the people but abandoned by the system’ – the funeral service of Shaleen Surtie-Richards

A funeral service for Shaleen Surtie-Richards took place at Durbanville Memorial Park, Cape Town, on Sunday.

“Shaleen was loved by the people but she was abandoned by the system,” said Shaleen’s longtime friend Rif’at Browers in a moving tribute.

Addressing the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa, who sat in the chapel, Rif’at Browers said: “In this vein, I speak to minister Nathi Mthethwa, and I plead with you. Please let us launch a fund that will ensure the longevity of all South African people in the arts and entertainment industry. I’m open to any form of discussion and on any platform.” (Read the full article here)

The funeral service of veteran actor Shaleen Surtie-Richards on Sunday, 13 June at Durbanville Memorial Park, Cape Town.

Photo: Gallo Images, Misha Jordaan

2. Shaleen Surtie-Richards was candid about her financial struggles in one of her final TV interviews

Shaleen Surtie-Richards said she openly wanted to talk about her financial troubles in one of her final TV interviews before she died.

Known for her iconic roles of Fiela in Fiela se Kind and Nenna in Egoli, Shaleen, in an interview on Hannes Aan Huis on kykNET (DStv 144) that was broadcast this week, said that she “wanted the opportunity to speak about her financial struggles openly”, and that she had gone through “the deepest, deepest waters”.

With the interview done inside her home, she told Hannes van Wyk that “I sat here without a cent to my name. My house – they wanted to put on the market. To tell you the truth, my house was almost sold out from under me”. (Read the full article here)

Shaleen Surtie-Richards.

Photo: Foto24/Nelius Rademan/Gallo Images

3. Quanita Adams’ moving tribute to Shaleen Surtie-Richards: ‘I don’t have the words that could ever contain her’

“What Shaleen represents is so large, and the magnitude of who she was professionally and personally is so overwhelming that I don’t have the words that could ever contain her,” says award-winning actor, writer and director Quanita Adams, following the death of Shaleen Surtie-Richards.

“She is our genesis, and she has been a leader on the vanguard of our exodus. What I understand about these two stories, these origin stories, is that somewhere it started, and then there was a movement that followed.

“That’s what I think about when I think about Shaleen. She was there at the start, and she led a movement to this idea of a promised land that we might never get to. But what’s important narratively about this idea of an exodus is that we move from a place where we were,” says Quanita. (Read the full article here)

The funeral service of veteran actor Shaleen Surtie-Richards on Sunday, 13 June at Durbanville Memorial Park, Cape Town.

Photo: Gallo Images, Misha Jordaan

4. The final curtain falls on the life of Shaleen Surtie-Richards: A tribute to a South African icon

Shaleen was perhaps best known for her role as Fiela in the 1988 film Fiela se Kind and Ester “Nenna” Willemse in the long-running M-Net soapie Egoli: Place of Gold.

Based on the novel by Dalene Matthee, Fiela se Kind was Shaleen’s first on-screen role and the first for Katinka Heyns in the director’s chair.

On Monday, Katinka Heyns reminisced with Channel24 and shared a brief oral history of how Shaleen came to be cast as Fiela in her film and how she knew that Shaleen would be just the right fit for the role of Fiela Komoetie.

“Shaleen was new to the scene, and in her various roles on stage, she was quickly garnering a lot of attention and acclaim. However, I wasn’t sure whether she would have been able to make a successful transition from stage to screen,” Katinka said. (Read the full article here)