Olu Jacobs Dies: Veteran Actor's 84th Birthday Pictures Emerge as Movie Industry Mourns

• Veteran Nigerian actor and film executive Olu Jacobs, born Oludotun Baiyewu Jacobs, died on September 16, 2026, at the age of 84, with the news confirmed by his son, Olusoji Jacobs
• Photos from Jacobs' 84th birthday celebration in July 2026, which showed him posing beside an elaborate cake, resurfaced online just weeks after the milestone
• The screen legend, celebrated for his decades-long career spanning British and Nigerian film and theatre, was honoured with an Industry Merit Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award

Photos from Jacobs' 84th birthday celebration in July 2026 have resurfaced online since news of his death broke, with many fans and colleagues revisiting the joyful images just weeks before his passing.

The veteran Nigerian actor and film executive Olu Jacobs was born Oludotun Baiyewu Jacobs and died on September 16, 2026, at the age of 84, with his son Olusoji Jacobs confirming the news in an emotional Instagram statement describing him as "The Lion of Lufodo."

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Jacobs trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London before returning to Nigeria, where he became one of the country's most respected film figures alongside his wife and veteran actress Joke Silva.

Olu Jacobs' birthday photos go viral

The pictures, shared at the time by the Facebook page De Nancy'z Tv with the caption "The King of the Screen Clocks 84!", showed the veteran actor posing beside an elaborate gold-tiered cake marking the milestone.

Other images from the celebration captured Jacobs alongside family members and industry figures gathered around the cake, all smiling for the camera in what was a rare joyful public appearance for the actor in his later years.

During his decades-long career, Jacobs earned the Industry Merit Award at the Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Awards and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Africa International Film Festival, cementing his status as one of Nigeria's most respected screen legends.

The Facebook post with the birthday photos can be seen below.

Olu Jacobs battled dementia before death

According to an earlier report by YEN.com.gh, Jacobs had been living with dementia with Lewy bodies, a degenerative brain condition his wife, Joke Silva, first disclosed publicly in a 2021 interview.

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Silva described the illness as especially difficult for the family, noting that he did not always understand what was happening around him in his final years.

Source: YEN.com.gh