Connie Chiume Dies: ‘Black Panther’ Actor Was 72

Connie Chiume, the South African actor known for her role as tribal leader Zawavari in Marvel Studios’ Black Panther and 2022 sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, died Tuesday at a Johannesburg hospital. She was 72.

Her family announced the death on social media. A cause has not been disclosed.

The South African government paid tribute to Chiume on X: “Our heartfelt condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of multi-award winning and legendary actress Connie Chiume. Her outstanding work will always be remembered.”

Born June 5, 1952, as Gabisile Connie Chiume in South Africa’s Free State province of Welkom. She later studied to be a nurse and then a teacher – two of the limited options open to Black South Africans under apartheid.

In the late 1970s she joined a traveling musical group before being cast in the South African stage musical Ipi Ntombi. Subsequent stage credits would include roles in Porgy and Bess and The Little Shop of Horrors.

Returning to South Africa after the fall of apartheid, she appeared in many TV series and films before her Hollywood breakthrough as a tribe elder of in the fictional kingdom of Wakanda. Critical and audience response was more than enough to warrant a return five years later in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Since then, she appeared in the TV series Heart of the Hunter and Soon Comes Night, as well as being featured in Beyoncé’s visual album Black is King (2020).

Survivors include three children and five grandchildren.