Gloria Mudau
South African actress (1927-2011

Gloria Mampye Mudau (née Nkomo) (17 January 1927 – 5 September 2011) was a South African actress and educator, best remembered for her comedic television roles on SABC shows such as S'gudi S'naysi ('It's Good It's Nice') and Khululeka ('Be Free').
She began her acting career later in life, after working as a teacher, and became one of the beloved faces of early democratic South African television. She was better known as Louise.
Career
Mudau has been a school teacher since the 1950s. In 1986, she began her acting career in the long-running SABC Zulu comedy series S'gudi S'naysi working for Roberta Durrant, a film director and owner of Penguin Films. She gained national fame for her role as Sis' Louise in the comedy series, where she portrayed a character that became part of South Africa's daily household TV culture.
In 1994, she starred in the comedy-drama Khululeka, a series created to educate first-time voters during South Africa's transition to democracy. She played the role of Sis Pretty, the wife of Hamilton (played by Corney Mabaso), in the show's sixth season in 2004.
Mudau was praised for her ability to bring warmth and subtle humour to her roles, despite being a reserved person off-screen. She stopped acting around 2008, only a few years before her death.
The public source identifies “Gloria Mudau” as south African actress (1927-2011. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Gloria, Mudau and South.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q135618174. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1927, 2011, 1986 and 1994.
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This entry incorporates text from “Gloria Mudau” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.