When veteran actor Ian Roberts was first cast in a television oil advert in the late 1980s he had no idea it would run for 18 years and become a South African classic.
Asked during rehearsals in Hotazel to come up with ideas for the grizzled Kalahari mechanic he was playing, the Fort Beaufort-born actor immediately thought about his rural Eastern Cape roots and famous Castrol characters Boet and Swaer – of “a can of the best” fame – were born.
“I said: ‘Ja boet, the dam is so dry the bass are giving each other mouth-to-mouth swaer’ and it all came from there,” he chuckled.
Speaking in the same “Lower Albany” hillbilly twang he learnt growing up on a Kat Valley citrus farm, Roberts yesterday recalled how the quirky 1988 advert he originally did with Norman Anstey grew in the new South Africa to include Malefatse “Fats” Bookholane from Port Elizabeth.
Roberts explained how the PE city slicker and the Fort Beaufort farm boy used to chat away in Xhosa inbetween shooting of the iconic adverts.
In total 18 different adverts were shot over the years as the campaign “evolved with the country” and only ended when BP bought out Castrol.
Set in rural Kalahari, Roberts said even though urban people thought their country cousins were all “dumb and thick” the advert showed viewers they were actually “bloody clever”.
“I am very proud of the adverts. There was a lot of creativity … we never stuck to the script.”
A man of many talents, Roberts’ association with the African outback did not end when the plug was pulled on the cult adverts.
When he is not making movies, Roberts can be found jamming guitar and singing with his popular band Radio Kalahari Orkes – which he hopes to bring to the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown next year.
Given a guitar by his father Llewellyn when he was 10 years old, Roberts played through his years at boarding school at St Andrew’s Prep and College in Grahamstown and also while studying drama at Rhodes University.
“Working with the band is very rewarding, it is fantastic.”
Roberts, who has a holiday home on the Sunshine Coast, regularly visits his mom Lynn who retired to Port Alfred.
Although South Africa is plagued by many social and political ills, Roberts says the film industry is doing well thanks to government funding and rebates.
A born story teller who has appeared in more than 40 movies and almost as many stage productions, Roberts says he loves playing characters that give people hope.
“I want to leave people with a positive vibe. That is why the ending of (TV series) sucked so much.”
Roberts said even though he fought for a “happy ending” – instead of his daughter’s character being murdered by a child molester who sexually violated her years earlier – his pleas fell on deaf ears.
“They should of let me kill the oke. That’s what people wanted to see.”
By DAVID MACGREGOR
Article Source: Daily Dispatch