The School of the Arts: Drama mourns the death of actor Ben Kruger

Accomplished actor and veteran media personality Ben Kruger, a UP alumnus, passed away from COVID-19 on 25 May 2021.The School of the Arts: Drama extend their deepest condolences to Ben Kruger's family on their loss. Kruger had studied at the University of Pretoria Drama Department, and his television acting breakthrough came in the early 1980s with the Frans Marx-series Skooldae.

Ben Kruger was a versatile actor who excelled at dramatic as well as comedic roles and who was equally comfortable in front of the camera and on stage. Kruger's own kind and loving nature shone through in the characters he portrayed which further enabled audiences to relate to his characters. UP alumni, Je-Ani Swiegelaar, played opposite Kruger in Binnelanders for the past nine years. In a tribute to the late actor on Jacaranda FM (26 May) Swiegelaar described how he had carried her through easy and difficult scenes, that he was a rock and mentor to his colleagues, and that she will remember him as 'pappie' (as she lovingly called him).