BREAKING. Dudley Saunders: 'He wasn't just cool, he was also kind and extremely hardworking," says Robyn Curnow, CNN Int correspondent.

Dudley Saunders oozed confidence and knowledge and encouraged and supported every TV reporter he was out with doing a story, says Robyn Curnow, CNN International's correspondent in South Africa and who worked with the legendary cameraman over many years.

Robyn Curnow is weighing in, as is the rest of South Africa's shocked TV industry, following the unexpected death of the beloved and fearless cameraman Dudley Saunders on Tuesday in a freak accident while filming a story with the British production company Arrow Media.

"Duds was one of the first cameramen I worked with when I started reporting for the SABC in 1996," Robyn Curnow, who is also the anchor of the weekly CNN Marketplace Africa, tells TV with Thinus.

"I never studied journalism, I learnt my trade from working with him. He didn't do it on purpose - he just oozed confidence and knowledge. Pictures, words, angles, interviews ... he had a natural ability to support you and encourage you."

"We were kind of a team for many years, travelling the country and documenting Nelson Mandela's new South Africa for the nightly news bulletin," says Robyn Curnow.

"He would swagger into a newsroom, cigarette in hand, hair shaved bald and a camera slung over his shoulder. He wasn't just cool, he was also kind and extremely hardworking. Every story was important. Dudley would flirt with the interviewee, charm a stubborn policeman and be patient with an old pensioner."

"With Dudley there was always lots of adventures, Jack Daniels and damn good journalism," says Robyn Curnow.