For the millennial and older Gen Z audience of the Yoruba section of Nollywood, Taiwo ‘Ogogo’ Hassan was symbolic. His presence in a movie often reinforced an optimistic view of life: that even good guys can attain wealth, get justice, or be all-round successful. He was often the ‘Mr Nice Guy’, yet the act never got boring. Ogogo was always the perfect archetype of a good man, even when he played an armed robber, as he did in ‘Owo Blow’; he was still somehow altruistic.
The hallowed figure was pronounced dead at 3 pm on Sunday after battling stage-four cancer, which was only diagnosed a few weeks prior, and had affected his abdomen. Ogogo’s familiar voice and commanding presence, which once filled theatre stages, sold-out video cassettes and compact discs (CDs), and became part of many Nigerians’ childhoods, had gone quiet.
Ogogo died at 66, yet he could subtract two decades from the age, and nobody would have noticed. He was a screen god with his tall, bulky frame wrapped in ever-twinkling dark skin. According to Toyosi Adesanya, one of Ogogo’s proteges, several ladies ventured into acting just to seduce the dead actor.
Ogogo had a spell-binding on-screen charisma. He didn’t need to tell the world about the boxing training he took in his younger days because he pranced around the set as if he could beat a million people with a single punch. The popularity of the saying “Action po bi Ogogo”, which loosely translates to “Abundance of action like Ogogo”, shows how his appeal cut across pop culture. Another of his aphorisms inspired Burna Boy’s ‘Last Last’, the global hit track which was nominated for Grammys in 2023.
He officially began his thespian journey as a curious dilettante at 22. He spent the next four decades in front of the camera, appearing in over 200 movies and cementing his status as one of Nollywood’s most iconic figures.
THE SOLE SURVIVOR OF HIS MOTHER’S 13 CHILDREN
Ogogo was born on October 31, 1959, into a family of traditional chanters and masqueraders in Ilaro, Ogun. He was the last child and one of the three of his mother’s 13 children who survived past early childhood.
From a young age, his mother was told that Ogogo was a “glorious child”. This became the foundation of the prayers she offered for him every morning, asking that he become famous for the right reasons and achieve what his siblings could not because their lives were cut short.
“My mother gave birth to 13 kids, and we’re just left with three, and I’m the only surviving twin among the four sets of twins my mum had. So my mum would pray that the achievements the others couldn’t accomplish while they were alive, let me achieve them,” he told Oyinmomo TV in one of his interviews.
“My mother prayed for me every morning because she had already been told I’m a glorious child, but I didn’t understand it when she prayed then. She would say we have different kinds of fame. A popular thief is famous, but I don’t want that for you. I don’t know how he will become famous and glorious, but let it be through a positive way. At the time, she would mention my name while making that prayer.”
His family history and culture of traditional chanting and masquerade performances prepared him for an acting career even before he knew that was what he wanted to become.
“I never knew that I would be involved in the entertainment industry while growing. I just admired the glitz and glamour. I think my love for entertainment can be traced to my family, which is deeply rooted in Yoruba culture and tradition, he told LegitNG in 2015
“We are masqueraders, and I know how to praise people and chant very well. When I started acting, producers loved giving me the role of a traditional chanter because they knew I could chant ‘ewi’ and ‘oriki’ very well.”
A MECHANIC ON WEEKDAYS, AN ACTOR BY WEEKENDS
Although Ogogo took part in his first-ever theatrical performance in 1974, when he was 15, he consistently noted that his professional journey began in 1981.
“I went to properly learn it from Awoade Fabunmi; he is an Ifa priest,” he told City People Magazine in 2024.
At the time, Ogogo was already a trained auto mechanic and worked as one at the Lagos State Water Corporation. His role in the group was limited because of his job as a civil servant. He participated in only a few productions, usually on weekends or during his annual leave. That changed in 1994, when he quit his job to pursue acting full-time.
Early in his acting career, Ogogo was better known for his chanting voice. A skill he developed as a boy from a family steeped in masquerade tradition. He was called “Olohun Iyo”, which translates to “The one with the sweet voice”, for a long while.
One of Ogogo’s earliest influential acting roles was in ‘Owo Blow’, the 1996 crime trilogy directed by Tade Ogidan. He played the adult version of the eponymous Owo Blow, a street urchin turned armed robber who is hellbent on quitting the trade, but his gang members want otherwise.
“When the movie Owoblow was produced… I remember I was in the hospital, and it was the first time I ever had typhoid in my life,” he said.
“They brought the script to me in the hospital, and when they saw that I was ill, they went back to tell Tade Ogidan that I was ill and might not be able to act. He ordered that the movie be postponed till I got well. When I heard that, I asked the doctors to discharge me so I could go and shoot the movie.
“I promised that I would always report back to the hospital at night for my treatment just to honour Tade Ogidan. After shooting every evening, they always took me to the hospital for my injections before they dropped me at home.”
Ogogo went on to feature in hundreds of movies, including timeless classics like ‘Arowolo’, ‘Ibinu Elewon’, ‘Omo Olomo’, among others. He also ventured into music. He released an album titled Appreciation in 2009 while in the US. He then followed it with a second album in Nigeria but, according to him, the marketer ran away with his N2 million from the project.
A MAKER OF VETERANS AT ODUNFA CAUCUS
Between juggling acting and his mechanical engineering job, Ogogo co-founded the Odunfa Caucus, a theatre training school legendary in Nollywood’s Yoruba section. The group was named after Odunfa Street in the Ebute Metta area of Lagos where it was founded. Other founding members include Yinka Quadri, Abbey Lanre, Kaka Odunfa and Rasaq Ajao, an actor better known as “Ara o san”. The group bridged Herbert Ogunde’s old, traditional travelling theatre practice with a newer generation of on-screen acting through home videos and a growing cinema culture.
“Myself, Alade Aromire, Fatai Laude, Rasak Ajao, Abiodun Olaranwaju were together, and Aromire brought the idea of the caucus, which I seconded. Then, four days later, we spoke about it again, and the issue of who would be the leader came up. Then I brought the idea that Yinka Quadri should be the leader of the caucus and that’s how he became the leader of the group,” Ogogo recounted.
Odunfa Caucus has been credited with training, entirely or in part, over 100 Nollywood movie stars. Funke Akindele, Iyabo Ojo, Faithia Balogun, Saheed Balogun, Ope Ayeiola, Bisi Komolafe, Toyosi Adesanya, Bisi Ibidapo Obe, among others.
“There is no person who came to train under the group that didn’t get successful,” he once boasted.
VOMITING BLOOD FOR SEVEN MONTHS AND GETTING A SECOND CHANCE AT LIFE
At some point in his career, Ogogo battled a serious illness for several years, with rumours circulating that it was caused by cocaine allegedly bursting in his stomach. The actor dismissed the claim, saying “I do not even know what cocaine looks like”.
He said the illness became so severe that he began contemplating death after seeking help from different sources without finding a solution.
In 2025, Ogogo revealed that he had actually battled chronic ulcer for almost seven years. He said the condition was not caused by a lack of food but by his casual use of “Alabukun and lime” whenever he felt unwell.
“I don’t drink or smoke. I was going to a location when I had a sharp pain. When I got to the location, Remi Surutu said it was ulcer and I was fasting but I had to break it and I took milk.
“The second day I went to the hospital and I was diagnosed with ulcer. The doctor said it was chronic ulcer that was caused by the Alabukun and lime I take when I feel ill. I spent six to seven years battling this illness. I vomited so much to the point I started vomiting blood. It was a terrible period. I thought everything was over.”
But Ogogo survived. He recovered, regained his strength and returned to the screen, featuring in several films before being diagnosed with stage-four cancer, which ultimately claimed his life.
ULCER OR CANCER MISDIAGNOSIS?
It was Kira, one of Ogogo’s daughters, who first revealed that the actor had been diagnosed with cancer, saying the condition was discovered about three weeks before his death and had affected his abdomen.
She said some medical facilities had told the family that chemotherapy could no longer be administered and appealed for recommendations on alternative treatment options.
Toyosi Adesanya also gave an update, saying Ogogo had been admitted to the theatre for treatment. However, the actor later died.
Following his death, old videos of Ogogo discussing his nearly seven-year battle with ulcer resurfaced, prompting questions about whether the illness could have been an early sign of the cancer that was only diagnosed years later.
Some social media users raised concerns about possible misdiagnosis, while others pointed out that chronic ulcer can exist independently of cancer.
An X user identified as Sir Jarus noted that gastrointestinal cancers, including colon and pancreatic cancers, can sometimes be mistaken for ulcers, raising questions about whether Ogogo’s condition could have been detected earlier.
“In 2025, Ogogo spoke publicly about battling chronic ulcer for several years. Hoping it wasn’t when the cancer was in early stages that they were (mis)diagnosing and treating ulcer.
“Too many cases of gastrointestinal tract cancers, colon, pancreatic etc, were misdiagnosed as ulcer in many cases I know until the real thing got too late,” he wrote.
Another user, however, suggested that Ogogo’s condition could genuinely have been chronic ulcer, noting that Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is a known risk factor for some forms of stomach cancer.
Whether the ulcer and cancer were connected remains unclear. What is certain is that Ogogo has taken his final bow, leaving behind decades of films and a generation of actors he helped train and shape.
