1. He was born Benson Wanjau in 1937 in then Nyeri district. He died aged 78.
2. As a pupil at CMS primary in Pumwani, Nairobi, Mzee Ojwang’s favourite subject was mathematics.
3. He dropped out of Form Two due to financial constraints.
4. He is married to Augusta Wanjiru and together they have two children –Patricia Njeri and Michael Karira.
5. His family and that of Mama Kayai (Mary Khavere) are good friends in real life.
6. Mzee Ojwang worked as a technician at Mater Hospital for four years. Before then, he had worked at White Rose Dry Cleaners in Industrial Area.
7. In 2008, Mzee Ojwang’ was identified as the most trusted comedian in the country. The Nation Media Group-commissioned Infotrak Harris poll was topped by the actor and Churchill.
8. Prior to acting, he was a shop assistant at White Rose Drycleaners and later a technician at Mater Hospital. He later moved on to the TV show, Darubini in 1980.
9. As the last point suggests, Benson Wanjau was not always an actor. He joined the theatre industry fairly late. He told Passion Magazine that he only started acting in the 1970s at the age of 34.
10. He got the Mzee Ojwang’ even before he got into acting. While he worked at White Rose, a co-worker used to teasingly call him Ojwang’ because of the way he dressed. “When I went for auditions for Darubini, I used the name Ojwang and it has stuck,” he told Passion Magazine.
11. Naturally, from his name, we expect his character to be Luo. And over the 35 years, he has played Ojwang’, he has been presented as a Luo complete with the accent. But not only is Benson Wanjau not Luo, he does not know the language at all.
A voice from a family is gone , a voice we loved is stilled, a place is vacant in the home which never can be filled. Type R.I.P . below.
Additional information: Ghafla, Passion Magazine & Cnyakundi.
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