

Best known to South African
audiences as one of the country's outstanding comedians and
actors, Hal Orlandini has enjoyed an extensive career in all
media. In radio, he played in many long running comedy series,
including several written by
Donald Monat and
June Dixon such as
Son Of Livingstone (in which he played the title role),
Carry On Caltex and The Bloodhounds, in most of
which he frequently co-starred with
Michael Mayer. He can be
heard (deep in character as an Afrikaner policeman) in the
Avengers clip from the Springbok Radio Silver Jubilee show,
The Great Gong Robbery.
He also often played in the
popular afternoon children's adventure series Jet Jungle,
which also starred Diane Appleby
of The Avengers. There was
one incident for which he has become infamous. The show was on
air, and Jet, played by the late Brian O'Shaughnessy, was
fighting against the Mafia. This was all well and good until
Orlandini was heard in the background saying in a pronounced
Italian accent: "Hi! I've got the biggest balls in Italy. Do you
want to look at them? Here they are!" This prank was met by an
angry call from Springbok Radio boss Jack Siebert to
O'Shaughnessy (who also served as writer on Jet Jungle).
In addition to a
distinguished stage career, often in serious dramatic roles, Hal
has also appeared in many American and British films that were
made in South Africa, including Game For Vultures (1979),
Purgatory (1988), Never Say Die (1994),
Operation Delta Force (1997) and Burndown (1990), the
cast of which also included Hugh Rouse.
He also formed Proscenium
Productions in the early Seventies with Avengers co-star
Gordon Mulholland. Among the productions staged by the company
were Not in Front of the Kids and Hair Hair.
by Donald Monat with Alan Hayes
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