by Thinus Ferreira
The legendary South African actress Elize Cawood died on Saturday morning after losing her battle against lung cancer. She was 68.
Her most recent on-air appearance on South African television was in the Afrikaans weekday soap Binnelanders on kykNET (DStv 144) as At Koster's sister.
Elize Cawood, married to actor Wilson Dunster, was diagnosed with lung cancer in September 2019. She was previously diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2006.
Daughter Jenna Jo Dunster on Facebook wrote on Saturday that Elize "was diagnosed with lung cancer in September and fought gracefully until the end. She was in no pain when she passed and both me and my father were there with her".
"Our worlds will never be the same without her - but we celebrate the exquisite human being that she was. Thank you to everyone for your love and support, we truly appreciate it, but we would like some privacy during this time."
Elize Cawood studied BA Drama at the University of the Free State and started her professional career in 1974 as a member of the Performing Arts Council of the Free State. For 4 years she played a range of roles, and spent another year with PACT's Youth Group, touring through the then-Transvaal.
In 1979 Elize Cawood arrived in Johannesburg as a freelance actress and snagged numerous TV roles with the advent of television in South Africa, followed by stage roles and Manie van Rensburg's iconic 1984-series Verspeelde Lente in the role of Pop le Roux.
She portrayed Olive Schreiner in Stephen Gray's Schreiner and Elsa in the debut production of Road to Mecca with Yvonne Bryceland at the Market Theatre, directed by Athol Fugard.
Other highlights on stage include the Chekovs plays The Cherry Orchard and Three Sisters, Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House and an Afrikaans translation of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar named Desire, directed by Bobby Heaney.
Other stage roles include Twelfth Night, Die Van Aardes van Grootoor, Ons Hou Konsert, The Time of the Hyena, Art of Chart and Dinner for One in 2012.
In SABC3's Isidingo soap she played mom Marlien to her own real-life daughter Jenna and in kykNET's Binnelanders she was Susanna Meyer.
Other TV appearance include roles in Andries Plak, Die Uwe Pottie Potgieter, Een Skoenlapper, Erfsondes, Gabriël, Generations, Onder Draai die Duiwel Rond, The Coconuts, Torings and Zero Tolerance.
In films she appeared in Wat Jy Saai, Arme Moordenaar, Taxi to Soweto, Red Dust, The Long Run, Die Wonderwerker, Lien se Lankstaanskoene, Dis Ek Anna, Sy Klink soos Lente, Vir Altyd and Vir die Voëls.
On radio she was iconic as the voice of Girly in the SABC's Afrikaans radio station RSG's serial Stralerjakkers, and later was the narrator of the audio book version on RSG as well and for which she won an ATKV award. She was the narrator of other RSG audio books as well like Droomdelwers.
Elize Cawood won several awards over the years, including Vita awards, Dalro awards, Scenaria awards and Artes awards and earlier this year kykNET honoured her with a special Fiësta award for her lifetime contribution to the industry in South Africa.
