She remains ageless and a force in the industry. Mrs Idowu Philips, popularly known as Iya Rainbow, is an actress that has proved that her acting career is a divine talent. She has featured and produced numerous movies and soaps. In this interview by SEYI SOKOYA, she speaks on her journey to stardom and the secret behind her relevance. Excerpts:
Can you share some of your early life experiences?
My father was Prophet Jacob Adebanjo Ifemade. My late mother was also a captain of the Cherubim and Seraphim (C & S) Church. I hail from Ijebu Ode, Ogun State and I have been a member of the C&S since1969. I attended African Methodist School and Anglican Modern School for my primary and modern schools respectively. Later, I went to a nursing school, and upon graduation; I worked for 20 years as a nurse.
Despite your age, you still maintain a youthful look, what is the secret?
I don’t eat much heavy food. I exercise once in a while, I take lots of fruits and vegetables and I rest well.
At 79, what are you most grateful for?
That I’m still very agile. Going to locations, modelling and advertising as an ambassador are all parts of exercising, which have helped me to remain smart. But like I always say, it is the grace of God, staying healthy at such an age is God’s gift. It is by the grace of God that I am still relevant in the industry. When it is God’s time and He has decided to help you, there is nothing anyone else can do. When I was younger, I never knew I could be this relevant. I realised my popularity when I was 50 years old, but I pray that the younger ones would never go through the kind of ordeal I experienced before making it to stardom.
How did you discover your passion for acting?
I started as a stage actress in my late husband’s Osumare Theatre Group. Even while I was working as a nurse, I still found time to go to locations. At 45, in 1986, I retired from nursing on the advice of the late Chief Hubert Ogunde. He (Ogunde) reasoned that since my husband died in 1984, there was a need for me to continue with the family legacy. So, I went into acting full-time. It was not easy at first, because I was formerly a salary earner. In fact, the first set of movies I acted in was; “Aje ni Iya Mi” and “Eru”. My late husband’s group was called Osumare Theatre, meaning ‘rainbow’. One day, I went to act with some white men and in the course of acting, someone asked for the meaning of Osumare and I replied rainbow. Then he said I should henceforth be called Iya Rainbow and that was it. I have produced lots of movies like “Alamose Eniyan”, “Alepo Rebi”, “Anikolapo”, “Omodupe” “Oluwa”, “Orisa Rebi” among others, but I have acted in over 500 movies.
Is there anything you would like to correct in the industry, particularly in the Yoruba movie sector?
It is the issue of piracy and marketers. Some marketers are not sincere. Often, they pay you in bits and pieces, not minding how you sourced the money to produce the money. But when I was still active as a producer, my marketer, Corporate Pictures, was faithful to me. In fact, he bought me a car, but since he stopped doing business with me, God has not abandoned me. He never cheated me.
What are the challenges you have had to face even as a star?
There were a lot of challenges that I faced, not only me, but other people in the industry also. Let me tell you some of the challenges; the issue of transportation to locations is a difficult one for me. I have had to transport myself going and coming back, at the end of the day, they will give you peanuts as your pay. Most times, they will tell you they will pay later and it will end there. For each of the movies back then, I was paid N25,000. Imagine a widow with five children surviving on such a meager fee. It got to a point where I wanted to go back to nursing.
A lot of people advised me against it. They thought my husband would be forgotten, but I must keep on struggling.
The other challenge I faced was when I lost my husband, a long time ago, in 1984 precisely, I thought the world would come to an end. It was difficult for me to cope as a woman, especially with the financial aspect. I had to continue from where my husband stopped and there was no money in theatre then. I had to meet one of my late husband’s friends, who said that I would have to sleep with him before I could get the money. I was shocked because this was someone we all called father and who was a very close ally of my late hubby.
Then my marriage was another challenge. I did not enjoy my marriage because my husband died a long time ago and since then, I decided not to re-marry. I have five children and they have all made me proud. God has been my pillar of support. My late mother was also a great helper; she took care of my children whenever I went on location. But I usually made it a point of duty to go to their schools whenever I was around to supervise their education. What I missed most about my mother is that I no longer have a bed partner. Ever since the death of my late husband, we had always slept together and now she is gone. Then whenever I went to locations, she was always there for me. Above all, my mother loved me so much, she had six of us and I was her only female child.
Can you tell us about your achievements?
I must confess that theatre has paid off for me because I have a house and a car of my own, and my children are graduates. One of my sons is a very popular writer.
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