Veteran Yoruba actress, Madam Grace Owoola Oyin-Adejobi, famously referred to as Iya Osogbo, has declared her firm decision never to return to acting again. She recounted an incident where an enthusiastic fan almost caused her to fall into a gutter with their vehicle while she was en route to one of her children’s offices in Ibadan, Oyo State.
“The fan eventually came down from her car to let me know that she merely wanted to exchange greetings with me. She later put N10,000 inside an envelope and gave me right there on the road,” she said.
Iya Osogbo, who was the wife of the late versatile actor in the Yoruba genre, Chief Oyin Adejobi, made these revelations while featuring on a radio magazine programme, Parrot Xtra Hour on Radio anchored by Olayinka Agboola in Ibadan.
The veteran actress said she started her acting career some 67 years ago and added that she had already made her name before she acted in the film entitled “Eran Iya Osogbo.”
She said that unlike now when acting has become not only the in-thing and profitable, in her time, parents frowned on people, especially women, who ventured into the profession as they were generally regarded as unserious types and therefore wayward.
On how she met her husband, Oyin Adejobi who died in 2000, she said that both of them went to the same school and were also living on the same street, saying that right from the start of his career, he was never under a boss.
She said that apart from the death of her husband, the lowest point in her life was when her fourth child died. “It took me a long time to recover from that experience,” she said.
Iya Osogbo, who featured prominently in productions like Orogun Adedigba, Kuye, Kootu Ashipa and others will officially turn 90 on Sunday. She equally announced that there would be no formal event to mark the occasion.
