Nollywood actor and filmmaker, Charles Inojie, has referred to the late actor Sam Loco-Efe as “the most intelligent Nollywood actor that ever lived,” adding that he deserves posthumous awards.
Inojie, while recounting his experience with the late actor on set, said he would only rehearse his lines once and would often correct others.
He made this known during an interview with media personality Chude.
His words: “Uncle Sam (Sam Loco-Efe) was perhaps the most intelligent Nollywood actor that ever lived. He can be here smoking cigarettes, and people are rehearsing that way, you won’t know that his subconscious mind is where they are rehearsing. He would be correcting you from afar; you wouldn’t even know he was talking to you.
“If you have a scene to play with him, Uncle Sam would only read with you once. He would ask the others to rehearse their lines.
“He would read that scene just once. He would say his lines, and when you missed yours, he would tell you your lines. Since I’ve been meeting people, I haven’t seen that type before. Uncle Sam was from another planet.”
Speaking further, he stated that it’s a ‘shame’ that the late actor never received national honour in a country where greenhorns are bestowed with one.
He said, “But in the country we live in, how can anyone imagine that Uncle Sam died without a national honour? In a country where national honours are being given to neophytes and greenhorns, Uncle Sam died without a national honour.
“One of Nigeria’s entries to FESTAC 1977, I think, was ‘Lambodo’ where Uncle Sam played the lead role. He got a special mention from the Queen as the best actor in Africa. That kind of human being, even in death, deserves posthumous awards.”