Boney 'Whited Up' For Another Role - OT?

My old Irish grandmother was a keen fan of this series and believed that James Laurenson was a genuine Aborigine. One day she happened to be watching "Waterloo" on TV and caught sight of Laurenson playing a British officer. "Look!" she exclaimed with much excitement "there's Boney and they've whited him up for this film!"

No amount of patient explanation about the actor's actual ethnicity could budge her belief that Laurenson was only impersonating a Caucasian in "Waterloo". She accused me of making up a silly story and said that I should be ashamed for trying to make a fool out of her.