Arief was born in
Batavia, Dutch East Indies, on 25 November 1924. He completed his education up to
junior high school level. He began his acting career with
Djamaluddin Malik's travelling troupe at Pantjawarna, later migrating to Bintang Surabaja which was a travelling theatre troupe headed by
Fred Young. By 1948 he had reached Batavia, which was renamed
Jakarta during the
Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies (1942–1945), and had been cast in the South Pacific Film Corporation's
Anggrek Bulan (
Moon Orchid, 1948). In this film, directed by
Andjar Asmara, Arief played a young man who must be protected from the predations of the "moon orchid", a beautiful yet dangerous young woman. In 1949, Arief acted in four more films for the South Pacific Film Corporation, including
Usmar Ismail's debut film
Tjitra (
Image). Soon afterwards he migrated to Fred Young's film company, also named Bintang Surabaja. Arief appeared in numerous films for the company, including
Bintang Surabaja 1951 (
Star of Surabaya 1951, 1950) and
Selamat Berdjuang, Masku! (
Fight Well, My Brother!, 1951). He also acted in films by the
National Film Company (
Inspektur Rachman, 1950) and Djamaluddin Malik's Persari. His star-making role, however, came with
Pangeran Hamid (
Prince Hamid, 1953), produced by Chok Chin Hsien's Golden Arrow Productions. In this film, he played a young prince named Hamid who retakes the throne after being driven out by a
usurper. After his contract with
Golden Arrow ended in 1955, Arief became a free agent. He remained highly productive and acted for numerous companies, despite the slump the filmmaking industry underwent in the early 1969s. Beginning with 1965's
Matjan Kemajoran (
Tiger of Kemajoran), Arief took on a number of roles as characters of European descent. Later roles of this type included the Englishman Edward William in
Samiun dan Dasima (
Samiun and Dasima, 1970) and the villainous Dutch colonial policeman Heyne Scott in the
Si Pitung series, consisting of
Si Pitung (1970),
Banteng Betawi (
Bull of Betawi, 1971),
Pembalasan si Pitung (
Revenge of Si Pitung, 1977), and
Si Pitung Beraksi Kembali (
Si Pitung Takes Action, 1981). Overall, Arief appeared in more than sixty films in the 1970s. During this period he also became active on television, acting in the skit show
Komedia Jakarta (
Comedy of Jakarta).
Misbach Yusa Biran, in his 1979 directory of Indonesian film actors, quotes Arief as saying "I actually do not have any talent for comedy. I am more interested in dramatic stories". Arief continued acting in the first years of the 1980s, making his final feature film,
Pengorbanan (
Sacrifice) in 1982. However, he did not quit acting, appearing in the
TVRI television series
Rumah Masa Depan (
House of the Future, 1984–1986, 1989). In 1988 he received a Surjosoemanto Award from the National Film Council for his dedication to the art. Arief died in Jakarta on 20 December 1992. ==Filmography==