Jamie Uys

Jamie Uys
Uys circa 1990
Born
Jacobus Johannes Uys

(1921-05-30)30 May 1921
Boksburg, Transvaal, Union of South Africa
Died29 January 1996(1996-01-29) (aged 74)
Johannesburg, South Africa
Years active1951–1989
SpouseHettie Uys

Jacobus Johannes Uys (/eɪs/ ayss; 30 May 1921 – 29 January 1996), better known as Jamie Uys, was a South African film director, best known for directing the 1980 comedy film The Gods Must Be Crazy and its 1989 sequel The Gods Must Be Crazy II. Uys also directed the 1974 documentary film Animals Are Beautiful People.

Early life

Before his foray into film, Uys was a mathematics teacher in his hometown of Boksburg.[1]

He then married Hettie, a fellow mathematics teacher, and the couple started farming and opening trading posts along the Palala River.

He was later appointed local magistrate and Justice of the Peace. In an interview, he stated, "Every Tuesday I crossed the wildest country and swam through rivers to get to the police post where I could hold court".[2]

Career

During his career he directed 24 films and owned a company with South African film producer Tommie Meyer.

He made his debut as a film director in 1951 with the Afrikaans-language film Daar doer in die bosveld.

Animals Are Beautiful People is about the plant and animal life in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, especially desert creatures. A highlight of the film includes a scene with elephants, warthogs, baboons, ostriches and other animals staggering around after eating rotten, fermented marula fruit. Uys claimed to have made the animals intoxicated on fermented marula fruits, however this later proved to be a lie, with the film crew having soaked the fruits in alcohol, prior to the scene being filmed.[3][4]

His most financially successful and best-known film is The Gods Must Be Crazy, a comedy first released in 1980.

The film features a San hunter/gatherer named N!xau in the lead role. The story starts with a Coca-Cola bottle that was thrown out of an airplane, fell into the Kalahari Desert and was found by a San tribe. As this was the only "modern" object in their world, it led to fights before it was decided that the bottle had to be returned to the Gods, who must have sent it in the first place. The character played by N!xau was given the task to return it.

The movie generated extensive word-of-mouth success in Europe, Japan and North America, with the movie rights later being sold to 45 countries.[2] It spawned a less successful sequel, The Gods Must Be Crazy II.

Uys also made the film Lost in the Desert, which tells the story of 8-year-old Dirkie Hayes's efforts to survive in the desert after surviving a plane crash, whilst his father Anton mounts increasingly desperate efforts to find him.

As well as directing the film, Uys also played the part of Anton, and his son Wynand Uys played the part of Dirkie. Some early sources and credits name the director and actor of Anton's part as Jamie Hayes, and name Wynand Uys as Dirkie Hayes, but the relatively recent DVD release of the movie is attributed to their real names.

Uys's other well-known film was Funny People in 1977, which was a comedy in the same genre as Candid Camera in the United States, putting unsuspecting people in embarrassing positions. These included a talking postbox, with the voice of a man claiming to be trapped inside, who asks a passerby for help. When the passerby returns with his friends, the 'talking' postbox is silent, and his friends accuse him of being drunk.

The sequel, Funny People II, was released in 1983, and features a young Arnold Vosloo who later found fame in Hollywood.

Awards

In 1981 Uys received the Grand Prix at the Festival International du Film de Comedie of Vevey for The Gods Must Be Crazy, and in 1974 he received the Golden Globe for best documentary for Animals Are Beautiful People.

Personal Life

Jamie Uys lived in Johannesburg and had a modest A-frame house at 262 Die Heide Street in Paradise Beach, a quiet coastal resort 5 km west of the surfers' paradise Jeffreys Bay (Eastern Cape). The house was 300 meters from the ocean and for many years had no electricity, only paraffin and later gas lamps. In the late 1970s and early 1980s he built a luxurious house on the beachfront, a couple of hundred meters away from his old A-frame.

As a keen amateur botanist Uys had a herbarium, and he collected a variety of plant specimens.

Uys was passionate about the outdoors and would often ride his bicycle through the veld.

He also built model airplanes.

Death

Jamie Uys died of a heart attack in 1996 at the age of 74 in Johannesburg.[1]

Selected filmography

  • Daar Doer in Die Bosveld (1951) - Hans Botha
  • Vyftig-vyftig (1953) - Hans Botha
  • Daar Doer in die Stad (1954) - Hans Botha
  • Geld Soos Bossies (1955)
  • Paul Krüger (1956) - Younger brother
  • Die Bosvelder (1958) - Hans Botha
  • Rip van Wyk (1960) - Rip van Wyk(character based on Rip Van Winkle)
  • Hou die Blink Kant Bo (1960) - Himself (uncredited)
  • Hans en die Rooinek (1961) - Hans Botha
  • The Hellions (1961) - Ernie Dobbs
  • Lord Oom Piet (1962) - Piet Kromhout
  • Die Wonderwêreld van Kammie Kamfer (1965) - Witch Doctor (voice, uncredited)
  • All the Way to Paris (1966) - Igor Strogoff
  • Dingaka (1965)
  • After You, Comrade (1967)
  • Die Professor en die Prikkelpop (also known as The Professor and the Beauty Queen) (1967) - Professor Hans Botha
  • Lost in the Desert (Afrikaans version as "Dirkie": 1969; English version as "Dirkie Lost in the Desert" / "Lost in the Desert": 1969) - Anton DeVries
  • Animals Are Beautiful People (1974)
  • Funny People (1976) - Himself / Various voices (uncredited)
  • The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980) - The Reverend (uncredited)
  • Funny People II (1983) - Himself (uncredited)
  • The Gods Must Be Crazy II (1989) - Bob (voice, uncredited) (final film role)

References

  1. ^ a b "Jamie Uys, 74, the Director Of 'The Gods Must Be Crazy'". The New York Times. 2 February 1996. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  2. ^ a b Allan, Jani (1980s). Face Value. Longstreet.
  3. ^ Theys, Michael (22 October 2021). "Do African Animals Get Drunk From Marula Fruit? Or is it a Myth?". Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  4. ^ Morris, Steve; Humphreys, David; Reynolds, Dan (2006). "Myth, Marula, and Elephant: An Assessment of Voluntary Ethanol Intoxication of the African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) Following Feeding on the Fruit of the Marula Tree (Sclerocarya birrea)". Physiological and Biochemical Zoology: Ecological and Evolutionary Approaches. 79 (2): 363–369. doi:10.1086/499983. ISSN 1522-2152.

Further reading

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