Sivaji Ganesan, the legendary actor who strode the Tamil cinema like a collossus for five decades, died in Chennai on Saturday at a private hospital after ailing for some time. The 74-year-old Dadasaheb Palke awardee, Ganesan is survived by his wife, two sons, including actor Prabhu, and two daughters.
A spokesman of the Apollo Hospital said that Sivaji was admitted to the hospital four days ago in a critical condition and the end came at 2010 hours. Sivaji had undergone by-pass surgery a few years ago and had been taking treatment off and on, the spokesman said. Bestowed Dadasaheb Phalke award for his outstanding contribution to Indian cinema Sivaji, had acted in over 300 films including a few in Telugu, Malayalam and a couple in Hindi.
Nadigar Thilagam, (Star of stars) as he was called, was honoured with Padmashree in 1966 and Padmabhushan in 1984. He was chosen for the Chevalier award by the French government in 1985.
Sivaji entered his film career with a role in Parasakthi in 1952, scripted by DMK leader M Karunanidhi, and rose to become one of the greatest Tamil actors. He belonged to an era when dialogue delivery in Tamil underwent a major change and Sivaji led the transformation. Bureau Report