{{Short description|South African actress and singer (1928–1998)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Peggy Phango | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1928|12|28}} | birth_place = Orlando, Soweto, South Africa | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1998|08|07|1928|12|28}} | death_place = London, England | other_names = | alma_mater = | known_for = | years_active = | spouse = Johnny Parker, m. 1965 | children = Two daughters | relatives = Miriam Makeba (cousin) | occupation = Actress and singer | notable_works = }} '''Peggy Phango''' (28 December 1928 – 7 August 1998) was a South African actress and singer, who from the 1960s was based in England.
==Early life== Peggy Phango was born at Orlando, Transvaal, South Africa. She trained as a nurse, but also sang in jazz clubs, as a young woman.<ref name="Vallance">Tom Vallance, [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-peggy-phango-1195617.html "Obituary: Peggy Phango"] ''The Independent'' (2 September 1998).</ref><ref name="Knipe">Michael Knipe, [http://mg.co.za/article/1998-08-21-from-tradesmans-daughter-to-stage "From Tradesman's Daughter to Stage Queen"] ''Mail & Guardian'' (21 August 1998).</ref>
==Career== In 1959, Phango was cast to replace her cousin,<ref>Tanisha Ford, [https://books.google.com/books?id=bWG0CAAAQBAJ&dq=Peggy+Phango&pg=PA16 ''Liberated Threads: Black Women, Style and the Global Politics of Soul''] (UNC Press, 2015): 15–16. {{ISBN|9781469625164}}</ref> Miriam Makeba, in the female lead of the musical ''King Kong'', about a South African boxer. Phango first appeared on the London stage in 1961, in the same show.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=-9YDAAAAMBAJ&dq=Ebony+King+Kong+Musical+1961&pg=PA80 "King Kong South African Musical, Hailed in London, is Set for Broadway"], ''Ebony'' (December 1961): 80–81.</ref> In 1988, she played "Bloody Mary" in a London revival of ''South Pacific''.<ref name="Vallance" /> She was in a vocal group with fellow ''King Kong'' cast members, Patience Gowabe and Hazel Futa, called the Velvettes; they sang backup for Cyril Davies and his All-Stars in clubs in the 1960s.<ref>Tony Bacon, [https://books.google.com/books?id=0QdychI8OVEC&dq=Peggy+Phango&pg=PR50 ''London Live: From the Yardbirds to Pink Floyd to the Sex Pistols''] (Hal Leonard, 1999): 49. {{ISBN|9780879305727}}</ref> She also recorded an album with Dudu Pukwana's band Zila.<ref name="Knipe" />
Phango also acted in non-musical roles on stage, including such shows as ''You Can't Take it With You'', ''The Crucible'', ''The Little Foxes'', and ''Fishing'', the first play by Paulette Randall.<ref>Alda Terracciano, [https://books.google.com/books?id=968LBwAAQBAJ&dq=Peggy+Phango&pg=PA25 "Mainstreaming African, Asian, and Caribbean Theatre: The Experiments of the Black Theatre Forum"] in Dimple Godiwala, ed., ''Alternatives Within the Mainstream: British Black and Asian Theatre'' (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008): 25–26. {{ISBN|9781443802864}}</ref> She toured as Rose in ''Stepping Out'' in the 1980s, and was one of the South Africans who both appeared in and contributed their personal experiences to the show ''Ekhaya'' in 1991.<ref>Geoffrey V. Davis, [https://books.google.com/books?id=m0bgeQPQXu4C&dq=Peggy+Phango&pg=PA243 ''Voices of Justice and Reason: Apartheid and Beyond in South African Literature''] (Rodopi, 2003): pg 243. {{ISBN|9789042008267}}</ref>
She appeared on British television regularly, notably in ''EastEnders'' and an adaptation of ''The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole''. Her appearances in television dramas about South Africa included roles in ''Victims of Apartheid'' (1978), ''Prisoners of Conscience'' (1981), ''The Biko Inquest'' (1984), and ''Death is a Part of the Process'' (1986), the last based on a novel by Hilda Bernstein.<ref name="Vallance" /> Shortly before her death she appeared as the character Mrs Wald in the first episode of a long-running television show, Lynda La Plante's ''Trial and Retribution''.<ref name="Knipe" />
==Personal life== Peggy Phango married English jazz pianist Johnny Parker in 1965, as his second wife. They had two daughters, Abigail and Beverly. Phango died in 1998, aged 69, in London.<ref>Peter Vacher, [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/jun/21/johnny-parker-obituary "Johnny Parker Obituary"], ''The Guardian'' (21 June 2010).</ref>
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|0679664}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20160224235618/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba2b9f2a7 Peggy Phango's listing in BFI]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Phango, Peggy}} Category:20th-century South African women singers Category:South African stage actresses Category:1928 births Category:1998 deaths Category:South African television actresses Category:South African expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:20th-century South African actresses Category:Musicians from Johannesburg