Henry Rodney determined to battle Parkinson’s disease

By Elvin Carl Croker

POPULAR actor/comedian Henry Rodney says he is as “fit as a fiddle” and ready to hit the stage despite his diagnosis of having Parkinson’s disease.
“Tell the people they will still be seeing me on stage and television, I am here!” said Rodney.

Rodney’s health condition came as a ‘shocker’ to the public some years ago. This spurred a countrywide fundraising drive. A number of benefit concerts and private and organisational support poured in to help the man that has for years put a smile on everyone’s face, smile again.

A process he said that has yielded millions of dollars and which served him well in being able to arrive at a diagnosis and treatment for his illness overseas.
When the Pepperpot Magazine caught up with Rodney at his D’Urban Street home, he appeared to be in high spirits and indeed looked “fit as a fiddle”.

The well-known actor shared with this publication his journey to his profession and how he is dealing with his sickness.
Speaking in his usual tone, the now 60-year-old who describes himself as an ‘exponent of folk’ assured that once he is seen on the road or on stage it means that he is much better.
“After my diagnosis, I never really planned to give up the stage, even while I was overseas receiving treatment I would accept little gigs”. He related.

He boasted of performing at the last Father’s Day Programme at the National Cultural Centre before proceeding on his second trip overseas for treatment.
“I also did a few kwe kwe [a Guyanese pre-wedding ceremony from the African-Guyanese tradition, a celebration before the wedding] around the place,” he continued.

Recounting an overseas performance, Rodney said at one time he was doing a one-man-show in Brooklyn but requested a chair to be on standby, “So if I had felt the legs weakening then I would have taken a seat and continued, so it would have been sit-down comedy,” he said jokingly.

His journey

Relating his journey in his field he said that he began to follow up folk performances from a young boy when the then-popular Yoruba Singers was formed.
“When I heard the Yoruba Singers playing I realised I like this folk thing so I always used to fit in,” he said.

Born on February 23, Guyana’s Republic Anniversary, Rodney said his career was birthed in church. Rodney was born in Beterverwagting, also known as B.V., a village on the East Coast of the Demerara, located roughly 10 miles from the capital, Georgetown. The comedian said that he was born opposite tree important facets of life, namely the church, the school and the burial ground.

“As soon as I opened my window I could have seen all three at the same time,” he said.
Having been an ardent member of the St. Mary the Virgin Anglican Church, he said his performances were seasonal with concerts at harvest, Christmas, Easter etc.
The bible class he belonged to started a group called the ‘St. Mary Young Eagles’ which was for church members only.

“We then spread our wings after some performances and opened up to the village so once you lived in BV you could have become a member of the group,” he said with a bright smile.
It wasn’t long before the group started doing shows in the other East Coast villages then branched out countrywide to Linden, Berbice, Essequibo etc.

Young days
As a teenager, travelling around the country and leader for the culture group, he said that the club was doing well until its members began to branch off because of work commitments, migration and other issues,
Henry then secured employment in Georgetown as a Prison Officer. Just around the same time, he met a friend by the name of Quacy Ojinga who encouraged him to join the Theatre Guild.

Ojinga turned out to be one of his greatest inspirations since he started taking him out to perform poetry, short story, skits, and plays.
This encounter he said helped him to spread his wings and to grow in Theatre; an experience he said became part of him.

Full-time comedy
Rodney then decided to call it quits after about 15 years as a Prison Officer and became a full-time actor in the late70s.
He said he made the decision because there were certain shows which took him out of Guyana which required him being away from work for long periods.
Guy-Festa in 1975 and the show, “Bicycle Yard” by Quacy Ojinga helped to trigger his career.

A former student of Bladen Hall Multilateral School on the East Coast, Rodney said when he started acting the National Cultural Centre wasn’t completed as yet so shows used to be kept at Queen’s College which was one of the premier performing centres at that time. Shows also would be staged at Bishops High and St. Rose’s High schools and City Hall.
“I was one of the youngsters who really represented the country in the rural areas; I remember many times attending these performances and I was the only person doing spoken word other persons would do other things,” he related.

Rise to ‘fame’
He said that in his days there was no television, and radio was the thing so he did a few radio serial like ‘On bended knees’ and ‘House of pressure,’ where he played the well-known character of ‘Shrumley’. He also acted in the cereal “The Jessamine’s”.
Relating his entry into television sitcoms after the advent of TV in Guyana, he said “Juice Junction” was his first but could not be sustained because of problems was sponsorship.
“One day Richard B Mahase called me and we got together with “Puddock” and we went into our first pilot shoot,” he said.

The sitcom that really spring boarded him was the show ‘Agree to Disagree’ which took Guyana by storm.
“When the pilot shoot was aired it had the whole of Georgetown going wild. People started calling,” he said.

What made it more interesting, he related, was when members of the Guyana Indian Foundation Trust (GIFT) headed by Ravi Dev started calling for the show to be pulled off the air because they felt it was degrading Indians. This, he said, was strongly rejected by the people.

“So you had GIFT versus the people to determine whether it should be taken off the air, but the people wanted the show to continue, so we continued the sitcom and it took the country by storm,” he said.

He said that the show had impacted people so much that people still calls him “Franklyn”, his sitcom name, today.
Relating an experience, he said that one person even wrote him a cheque in the name “Franklyn”. “One person called me trying to get my surname to put on a cheque they were preparing for me, called me and ask Franklyn-who is my name? I say ‘My name is Henry Rodney, not Franklyn,’” he said with a giggle.

Other plays that give credence to his fame include ‘Thengar’, ‘Rebellion’, ‘Jezebel’ 1, 2 and 2 and a half, ‘Till ah Find a Place’1,2 and3 and ‘Anybody see Brenda?’ among others.
He said things took a change downhill after one of the main characters for the sitcom “Puddock” died; he said the show started to lose its flavour since he couldn’t find someone to fill Puddock’s shoes since the story was centred on Puddock and him.

Looking ahead
Henry Rodney said despite his condition he is now ready to challenge any script
“I will give up when God tells me to. You are sick if you want to, it is a state of mind,” he said boldly.

He maintained that he has never quit the stage and expressed thanks to the Lord for the Guyanese people who gave the money they have donated, noting that if he doesn’t have the money he can’t get the treatment.
He also thanks his family who he said is always by his side.

“It is Parkinson’s so I will not lie down and wait for that. I have to live so I will just live the way I know it I ain’t changing for no sickness,” he said boldly.
Henry Rodney said that he is expected to be returning overseas to continue his treatment in June of this year