Fidelis Cheza
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Fidelis Cheza was a Zimbabwean actor whose most well known role to American audiences was of the Esbowe Warrior Chief in the film Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold. He was a mainstay in the Zimbabwean film industry for a long time. The award-winning Cheza featured in more than 40 film productions both locally and regionally. He is one of the veterans of the Zimbabwean film industry. Some of the film productions he took part in include the 1987 feature film Quatermain II.
Background
Fidelis Cheza was born on November 1, 1947, and died on October 25, 2015. He was also known as Dr. Funk Chikwama Danger or Mdara. Cheza attended Chipembere Primary and Highfield High. He left a rich legacy in film.[1]
Career
Cheza featured in local productions such as Studio 263 and Mukadota Family drama, where he played the roles of Danger and Chikwama respectively. He also featured in Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold in 1986, A Far Off Place in 1993 and Return to the Lost World in 1992, Kini and Adams in 1997, and a drama of Makunun’unu Maodzamoyo adapted from the Charles Mungoshi’s Shona novel and rubbed shoulders with popular actors like Denzel Washington.
The award-winning Cheza featured in more than 40 film productions both locally and regionally. He is one of the veterans of the Zimbabwean film industry. Some of the film productions he took part in include the 1987 feature film Quatermain II. That same year he had a supporting role in The Jungle Hell Is Going On. He gained popularity as Chief Palala in the Canadian-US adventure film, The Lost World, and another production in the same year titled Back to the Lost World. In 1993 he starred in The Track of the Wind and Bopha.
In 1997, he starred in an episode of the television series Diamond, as well as in the film Kini & Adams as Tapera among many other film productions. Most film lovers knew him as Mudhara Danger after his role in Studio 263. During the time of his death he was shooting a new film Makunun’unu Maodzamoyo.[2]
Trivia
He was found dead in his bedroom at his Highfield, Harare house in the evening of October 25, 2015. He went to a wedding after party in the neighborhood the day before, then returned home around 2 a.m. the next day, and went to bed. He spent the whole day in his room until the family went to check him around 9 p.m. and found him dead.
