Jean Pierre Faye

Jean Pierre Faye blows some dart
Jean Pierre Faye blows some dart

It’s been a while, but continuing our on / off look at the history and career of black actors in Italy (and occasionally veering wider into other parts of Europe as well!).  And this time, we’re taking a look at one Jean Pierre Faye.

Jean Pierre Faye was an actor who had a brief career in German films in the 1950s. He was best known, perhaps, for his appearances as Tanga, the faithful native friend of Marion Micheal’s Jungle Girl Liane in Liane, Jungle Goddess (56) and the Italian co-production Jungle Girl and the Slaver (57). Tanga is a fairly typical comic sidekick for these kinds of films, dubbed with a deep baritone and displaying a childlike guile despite otherwise appearing, to all intents and purposes, a complete idiot. For his troubles, poor Tanga was disposed of midway through the second film, dispatched by a gang of evil Arabian slave traders determined to make a mint out of their prize capture (Liane, of course, who actually manages to be even more stupid than Tanga in this film).  Oh well, at least he got to have a girlfriend, the even more obscure Lei Ilima, before being so rudely disposed of.

Jean Pierre Faye and furry friend
Jean Pierre Faye and furry friend

Faye also appeared in two other films at around the same time: Zwei Bayern in St. Pauli (56) and Zwei Bayern in Urwald (57), both of which were among the final entries in the popular German ‘Zwei Bayern’ series starring Joe Stockel. Although they were small, these were at least credited roles, but after his two years activity in German cinema he disappeared from the film world.

So who was Jean-Pierre Faye? Well, one thing is for certain, he is not the very white French philosopher and writer Jean-Pierre Fay (without the ‘e’). If anyone has any more information, please get in touch…

About Matt Blake 890 Articles
The WildEye is a blog dedicated to the wild world of Italian cinema (and, ok, sometimes I digress into discussing films from other countries as well). Peplums, comedies, dramas, spaghetti westerns... they're all covered here.

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