Honouring our heroes makes them feel respected and appreciated; and also sets the pedestal for others to follow suit.
In this light, one of the most sought after actors of his time, Atta Mensah has made a passionate appeal to the government of Ghana and the Ghana broadcasting Corporation(GBC) to honor him before he dies
Known in real life as Ebenezer Lartey, Atta Mensah who is 89 years old and still the lead character in the popular Showcase in Ga drama troupe, made the passionate appeal in an inspiring interview with www.razzonline.com.
According to him, he started his acting career before most of the veteran actors and has even made a greater contribution to the movie industry than they have done, but they have been honoured with awards and given estates to live in and he has gotten nothing. He therefore appeals to the government and GBC to honor him with some of the awards and give him his share of the estates before he dies
“It’s very sad that, upon all what i have done and keep doing for the Ghanaian film industry, I have not been given any recognition. I have never received a national award, but all the actors i started before and made greater contribution to the industry than, have been honoured with awards and given estates which they live in now…Why? is it because I act in the Ga dialect? I started acting even before the Osofo Dadzie drama series started airing”, Atta Mensah sorrowfully opined
He continued,”Most of the scripts of the numerous dramas on GBC and some films were written by me but GBC has never awarded me before. Not that i envy those that have been awarded, Its just disheartening that those incharge of giving awards in the country don’t think about me…so my wish is for the government and GBC to honour me with some of the awards and give me my share of the estates before i die”,
Explaining why he chose to act in the Ga dialect, Atta Mensah who started his acting career in 1965 and started appearing on TV in 1970, indicated that, during Saka Acquaye’s erra,all the dramas and films were than in English so he decided to change the phase of the industry by acting in Ga.
He is married to Ashie Lartey whom he always acted as his wife in almost all his movie scenes .
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