Ethiopian actor and civil-rights figure Debebe Eshetu, 83, died on Aug. 17. He trained at the Budapest School in Hungary, and by the early 1960s was appearing onstage, with the National Theatre, Hager Fikir Theater, and Ras Theatre. Eshetu also kept busy with the Union of African Performing Artists, as director of the Training of African Actors in Zimbabwe, editor of World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre, and as the chairman of the African Actors Association. As an actor, Eshetu appeared in the 1970s films A Season in Hell, Shaft in Africa, Afrika, and Zelda. After a long break, he was back in the 2014 in Red Leaves, and in last year’s For the Love of the Motherland. According to The Ethiopian Herald, “Debebe would later join the democratic movement in Ethiopia in a bid to end the political repression that had gripped the country for years. He played a significant role as chief of the Public Relations Department of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy.”
