Nigeria, July 10 -- Veteran actress Idowu "Iya Rainbow" Philips has revealed how the late theatre icon Hubert Ogunde persuaded her to resign from nursing and pursue acting full-time, a decision she says changed the course of her life.

Before becoming a full-time actress, Iya Rainbow balanced her nursing career (at the Infectious Disease Hospital in Yaba, the General Hospital in Lagos, and others) with performances for the Osumare Theatre Group. Speaking in an interview on Feel Right News TV on Thursday, the 83-year-old recalled that Ogunde urged her to embrace theatre after watching her performance in the stage production Rabiatu Dance Drama at the Glover Memorial Hall in Lagos.

Widely regarded as the father of modern Nigerian theatre, ...