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Ghana's film industry has said its final goodbye to one of its pioneers. Veteran actress Grace Nortey was laid to rest on Saturday, October 31, 2026, after a farewell service at the State House forecourt in Accra, according to a report by 3News.
Her body arrived at the forecourt under a Ghana Armed Forces escort, 3News reports. Mourners, dressed in white at the family's request, filed past to pay their last respects, led by members of her family. The interment that followed was private, for close family only.
Nortey died on August 26, 2026, at the University of Ghana Medical Centre, aged 89.
The service drew a large number of actors and personalities. Among them were veteran actress Grace Omaboe, popularly known as Maame Dokono, Nana Ama McBrown, Lydia Forson, actor and Ayawaso West Wuogon MP John Dumelo, broadcaster Berla Mundi and her husband David Tabi, and actors Edinam Atatsi, Dinah Gbartey and Kofi Adjorlolo, according to 3News. Members of the Ghana Actors Guild also attended.
John Dumelo paid a personal tribute on social media, saying Nortey shaped his life from his first day on a film set, 3News reports. He worked with her as a child on the 1991 film Baby Thief, a production that took the cast to Afienya and Koforidua, among other places. He described her affectionately as "Aunty Grace" and "Grandma."
The Ghana Actors Guild said her work "laid the foundation most Ghanaian actors still build on," according to the report. The Guild also raised concerns about the welfare of ageing actors and urged the industry to honour its pioneers while they are still alive.
Her children remembered her as a loving but firm mother who taught them to cook, clean and iron. They said she served alongside their father in Anglican churches in Osu and later Haatso.
Born Grace Naa Kwarley Sawyerr on February 1, 1937, Nortey worked with the Ghana Education Service before moving into radio, 3News reports. In the 1970s, she hosted Nyeawokoshie, a programme for Ga women.
Over more than five decades, she appeared in some of Ghana's best-loved productions, including Osofo Dadzie, Obra, Nana Akoto, Ties That Bind and Sinking Sands. International audiences knew her for her role as the old witch woman in the 2015 Netflix film Beasts of No Nation.
She received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Black Star International Film Festival in 2018.
Nortey was married to the late Archibald Nortey. 3News reports that she had five daughters, including actress Sheila Nortey.
Shows like Osofo Dadzie and Obra were staples of Ghana Broadcasting Corporation television in the 1970s and 1980s, watched by families across the country. Actors from that era, including Nortey, helped build the foundations of the Ghanaian screen industry long before the video boom and today's streaming platforms.
The Actors Guild's call to honour pioneers while they are alive echoes a recurring theme in Ghana's creative sector. Several veterans have spoken publicly about financial hardship and a lack of recognition in old age, and recent gestures such as gifts to veteran actress Christiana Awuni have kept the issue in the spotlight.
Her burial comes during a difficult period for Ghana's creative industry, which has also mourned actor and broadcaster Kwame Dzokoto and Volta Movie Makers Association president Anthony Blackmore Ayivor in recent weeks. The losses have renewed calls for better support and recognition for veteran performers.
Talk Talk extends its condolences to her family, friends and colleagues. May she rest in peace.
