Johnny Kraaykamp Senior

Biography

Jan Hendrik (John) Kraaykamp was born in Amsterdam on 19 April 1925. He started his career as a singer and was working in the 1950s as a bassist when he was discovered by Rijk de Gooyer. They recorded the song 'Twee jongens en een gitaar'. It was the start of a long collaboration. The duo recorded many songs together - 'De Bostella' was a gold record in 1968 - and in the 1960s and 1970s they were frequently seen on television (on the De Johnny en Rijk-show), including two years in West Germany, where their proposed programme title - Mein Kraaykampf - was rejected by German teleivision makers. In addition to this, Kraaykamp also had his own career as, among other things, presenter and actor for the theatre group Ensemble (vanaf 1958), the Amsterdam Volkstoneel (1962-1964), and in musical productions ('De man van La Mancha' and 'Irma la Douce').

After a long series of comic roles, Kraaykamp was active between 1979 and 1984 at the Rotterdam-based RO Theater, one of the three major theatre companies in the Netherlands. There he played 'King Lear', among other roles. After this in the 1980s he played in the AVRO series De Brekers, the film De aanslag and Laat maar zitten, a VARA series that was set in a prison. In 't Zonnetje in huis (1993-2003) he played one of the leading roles; the other was performed by his son, Johnny Kraaykamp, Jr. His last film role was in Kruimeltje.

In 1984 Kraaykamp received a Louis d'Or Prize for his role in Jacques de fatalist en zijn meester, and in 1986 he received a Golden Calf for his role in the films De aanslag and De wisselwachter.