Cock Crow at Dawn star, George Menta, dies in London
Font size: KAZEEM POPOOLA 12/05/2012 07:34:00

Nigeria has once again lost one of her best in the movie world as George Edafe Menta passed on at the age of 80 years. SS was reliably informed that Menta, who was one of the pioneers of the country’s movie industry, died at the Bristol Royal Infirmary in Bristol, the United Kingdom (UK), on Thursday March 29 during a protracted illness. Born on 3 June, 1931 in Bassa, Pla-teau State, Nigeria’s Menta lived in Jos where he had a very successful acting career in Cock Crow at Dawn, one of the popular sitcoms in the in the early 80s.Menta’s desire to make it in life saw him relocating from Nigeria to Eng-land at the young age of 20 in 1951.

.He later studied Law and became a telephonist at the international ex-change at the time, working his way up to become a supervisor, and it was while he was living in London that he met his wife Corine through a friend.

They were married in 1964, and had their first child Anne-Louise a year after.His return to Nigeria in 1974 saw him venturing into acting and poul-try farming.



And with acting being his most profound hobby, George Menta became a legend of a sort in Nigeria, with his role as Papa Bitrus in the now rested sitcom. He featured in a number of other national TV dramas, and Mister John-son was one of his most high profile movies. He appeared alongside film greats like Pierce Brosman of the James Bond fame, and veteran English actor Edward Woodward in 1990.

He was in Jos until he left for the UK in 1996 where he retired with his wife and four children. Pa Menta after losing his wife was always surround-ed by his children and grand children.

R.I