Roekiah was an Indonesian kroncong singer and film actress. She and her co-star Rd Mochtar became the colony’s first on-screen couple in the 1937 hit film Terang Boelan. She was admired not only for her voice, but her beauty. She died of a heart attack in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 1963.
About Roekiah in brief
Roekiah was an Indonesian kroncong singer and film actress. The daughter of two stage performers, she began her career at the age of seven. By 1932 she had become well known in Batavia as a singer and stage actress. She and her co-star Rd Mochtar became the colony’s first on-screen couple in the 1937 hit film Terang Boelan. After the Japanese invaded the Indies in 1942, Roekiah took only one more film role before her death. She was admired not only for her voice, but her beauty. During her life she was a fashion and beauty icon, featuring in advertisements and drawing comparisons to Dorothy Lamour and Janet Gaynor. She died of a heart attack in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 1963. She is buried in a private cemetery in Bandoeng, West Java, Dutch East Indies. Her five children include Rachmat Kartolo, an actor, pianist, and songwriter with the troupe; they married later that year. She also performed with the two-kroncong kcong group Lief Java’s Roekelan Troupe, which toured to Singapore to popular acclaim in the 1930s and ’40s. She had five children with Kartolo; one of her children entered acting. Her last husband was W. Imong Indisch, a journalist and editor of Indisch Indisch Filmsyndicaat.
In order to distract his wife, Kartolo gathered other members of the cast from the TerangBoelan cast and established the Tan’s Film troupe, including Roeksiah and Kartolo. Roeksia died in Jakarta in 1963; Kartolo died the following year in a car crash in Bekasi, Java. She leaves behind five children and a husband, W. W. IndischIndisch, an editor and editor at Indischindic FilmsyNDicaat, who died in 1986. She left behind a daughter and a son, who are still living in Indonesia. She has a daughter, Rachesia, who is an actress and singer. Roekah was married to the actor and pianist Kartolo until his death in 1991. She never had children. She lived in Batavi, West Indies. She later died in Bembu, Java, in 1997. She wrote a book about her life, “Roeksiah: A Memoir of a Girl and a Girl’s Life” (1998). She also wrote a biography of Kartolo called “Kartolo and Roeksah” (2001). She died in a nursing home in Jakarta. She will be buried in the city of Bekbu, West Jakarta. Her son, Rach Mat Kartolo is also an actor and singer with the group Faroka, which tours Singapore every year.
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This page is based on the article Roekiah published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 05, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
