Eddie Tagoe
Quick Facts
Biography
Eddie Tagoe is a Ghanaian actor best known in the UK for playing "Presuming Ed" in the 1987 film production of Withnail and I, a role that he resumed in 2000 in a stage production of the same work. Internationally, he may be better recognized for his brief appearance in the 1981 hit movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. Billed only as the "Messenger Pirate", his character was sent to find Indiana Jones in advance of Nazis boarding the ship on which Jones was travelling. Initially unable to find Jones, he was instructed by the captain to look again, and immediately replied, "I found him!", pointing to Jones swimming to the Nazi submarine.
Tagoe had a significantly larger part in his film debut, Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978), and as "Chocolate Mousse" in the 1984 farce, Top Secret!. He appeared in various other roles such as Sgt. Gwambe in Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend (1985), as well as The Dogs of War (1980), Pink Floyd The Wall (1982) and Spaghetti House (1982). Tagoe also appeared in episodes of a number of British television series, including Legacy of Murder, Prospects, and The Bill, becoming "a well-known face on British television as an actor".
The son of Ghanaian Chieftain Asafoatshe Ayah Tagoe, Eddie Tagoe travelled to London to study reflexology prior to pursuing acting. He then received a grant from the government of Ghana to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. In 1995, however, he returned to his reflexology career when he was recruited to serve as team reflexologist for Newcastle United F.C.