If you seek and don’t find me someday and they say I am gone, know that I am still ready to perform,” he said in an interview, underlining his deep passion for acting. He made a name for himself as a polished performer, and was regarded as one of the pioneers of Nollywood.
Chief Lari Williams, who died on February 27, at the age of 81, was well trained for his vocation. His enthusiasm for drama grew while he studied at the London School of Journalism. “I took English lessons at Molly College in London to improve my spoken English. I later joined the college drama group for evening classes,” he said.
“It was while there that I met the late veteran actor Jab Adu who encouraged me to enroll for full professional training in acting at the Mountview Theatre School. I finished in 1974 and had time to establish a small African theatre ensemble, which I called ‘The Calabash Artistes’…
“That was when we produced my first full-length play Kolanut Junction. I wrote a few other plays, got a number published and I was doing all that until I got the invitation to return home for FESTAC, which Nigeria hosted.”
He stayed back in the country after performing as a musical poet at the 1977 Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC), a major international festival held in Lagos.
In a career that spanned about five decades, he earned a reputation for excellent acting, both on stage and screen. One of his sons described him as “a determined perfectionist.” He sparkled as lead actor in Mirror in the Sun, a popular soap opera that aired on the Nigerian Television Authority network service every Sunday from 1984 to 1986. He also starred notably in other screen productions, including For Better for Worse, Village Headmaster, Adio Family, and Third Eye.
A quality actor, he demonstrated the value of training and showed that acting is a serious activity that requires know-how. He was the first national president of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) and emphasised professionalism.
Interestingly, he was reported to be the first actor to perform on top of Zuma Rock, one of the country’s tallest rocks located near the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, where he did a rendition of a poem by Mamman Vatsa titled ‘The bird that sings in the rain.’ He published his first book, a collection of poems called ‘Drum Call’ in 1976.
Also, he went to great lengths to enrich his stage productions, including, for instance, featuring a real-life awe-inspiring masquerader ‘Egun Lapampa’ in his play Awero.
He founded the Lari Williams Playhouse, ‘theatre of Edutainment,’ which focused on music, poems, dance and acting; and also established the Academy of Dramatic Art and Music (ADAM) that provided training and mentoring for mainly young people.
He taught Theatre Arts at three Nigerian universities, the University of Lagos, Lagos State University, and the University of Calabar. He also taught at the National Theatre, Lagos.
His weekly column in Vanguard newspaper, ‘Stage and Screen,’ which he reportedly ran for almost three decades, was a vehicle for the advancement of the country’s entertainment industry.
It was a testimony to his social consciousness and concern for social development that he entered politics and in 1983 was a vice presidential candidate. In a fascinating combination, he was the running mate of the legendary activist musician Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. Their political party was called Movement of the People (MOP).
The first Nigerian artiste to be honoured by two successive Nigerian presidents, he was a recipient of the national honour Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR) in 2008 under President Umaru Yar’ Adua and a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013 under President Goodluck Jonathan.
He spoke about “the satisfaction of doing what I enjoy doing best,” underlining the importance of professional passion. He will be remembered for being true to his calling.
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