Veteran Nollywood actor Lere Paimo has said his acting career began four years before his colleague Pete Edochie's.
Lere Paimo said this in an interview with Kunle Afod, days after Pete Edochie claimed to be the most senior Nigerian actor still alive.
Pete Edochie made the claim when he appeared on the “Curiosity Made Me Ask” podcast, hosted by Isbae U.
Countering the claim, an 86-year-old Lere Paimo said, “I started acting in 1958, and it was in 1962 that Pete Edochie started acting. I met Hubert Ogunde, who was senior to me and others, and there were big movies produced back then."
Lere Paimo further stated that the Yoruba film industry birthed Nollywood, buttressing his claim with the feat achieved by the legendary Hubert Ogunde, whom he once worked with.
“I heard from history that when he (Hubert Ogunde) started in the ’40s, there was nobody before him, and we never heard from history that the English industry, or any movie done in the English language, started before him.
“Since we didn’t hear or read that in any history books or documentation, I believe the Yoruba industry started first.
“There was nothing like English-speaking movie production then; Ogunde started by producing movies in the Yoruba language, which he used to educate everyone who watched those movies back then. We never heard about English-speaking movies until now, when, with civilisation, we started hearing and seeing that there are English-speaking movies,” he said.
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