Wahid Satay

Wahid was born in Indragiri, Riau, Sumatra, in the Dutch East Indies.[3] and migrated to Singapore in 1935. He received his early education at the Geylang Malay School.

Prior to his acting career, he took painting, which was his hobby since his school days. Because of the quality of his paintings, Wahid was offered a job as a studio set painter at the Cathay Keris Studios at East Coast Road at the end of 1956.[4] In 1957, director B.N. Rao needed a young comedian to be given a role in the film Pontianak. Rao noted that Wahid was always telling jokes to his co-workers and always making everyone on the set laugh, and thus decided to include him in Pontianak as a comedic role.

The role given to Wahid is the part of a satay seller (hence the stage name 'Wahid Satay', given by Cathay Keris Studios owner Loke Wan Tho) in a village where the people are afraid of Pontianak. Wahid so effectively acted the part of the satay seller that the scene became one of the most memorable scenes of the film Pontianak. The movie Pontianak created its own history when it broke Malay movie theatre records, with total takings of more than one million dollars, the highest amount then in 1957.[5]

Following his huge success in Pontianak, Wahid was promoted from assistant painter to full-time actor with a three-year contract. Wahid was not only competent in the field of acting, but also singing. Besides his skills in front of the camera, Wahid also performed live shows to promote his films. Up to his death, Wahid still got many invitations to perform live on stage. During his Cathay Keris Studio days, Wahid represented his studios at the Asia Pacific Film Festivals in Tokyo, Manila and Hong Kong.[5]

As an actor with Cathay Keris Studios, Wahid starred in numerous lead and supporting actor comic parts, which led him to be labelled "the Jerry Lewis of Singapore and Malaya".[6][7]

Apart from his iconic comedic roles during the 1950s and 1960s, he also rose to fame with another comedic actor, Mat Sentul in the same period. Thus both of them were involved together in numerous comedy films of those eras such as Pak Pandir Moden, 2 kali 5, etc.

Satay suffered from diabetes and heart disease.[8] He died from complications of diabetes on 22 May 2023, at the age of 93. Satay was found dead on his bed by his grandchild.[8] He was subsequently buried at the Pusara Aman Muslim cemetery at Lim Chu Kang.[4]

• Wahid Satay at IMDb