CHENNAI: Veteran Tamil film villain and stage artist M N Nambiar died here Wednesday after a brief illness.
Nambiar, 88, was suffering from age-related ailments for the past four months and breathed his last at his residence here,family sources said.
He is survived by wife, son Sukumaran Nambiar, a senior BJP leader and a daughter.
Joining the famous Navabrajamanikam group as a stage artist at the age of 13 he made his film debut in 1935 in the Bhaktha Ramadosss made in Tamil and Hindi. He went on to act in more than 1 000 films.
Nambiar had acted with almost all top heroes of Tamil cinema like M G Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan Rajnikanth and Kamal Hasan.
Born on March 7, 1919 in Kerala, S Kannur Nambiar was one of the most successful stars of Tamil cinema and perhaps the only actor who had remained active for six decades.
He also acted in Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi besides an English film Jungle which was released in 1952 with Rod Cameron directed by Willam Burke.
After becoming popular in Tamil films he started his own drama troupe Nambiar Nataka Mandram which had staged many plays.
Nambiar’s famous films include Aayirathil Oruvan with MGR, Ambikapathi with Sivaji Ganesan, Missiyamma with Gemini Ganesan, Nenjam Marappathillai directed by Sridhar and Bhagyaraj s Thooral Ninu Pochu in the 80s which proved to be a turning point in his film career as he started doning character roles since then.
Thigambara samiyar, Sarvadhikari Manthrikumari, Enga Veetu Pillai, Arasilankumari are some of his unforgettable films.
Nambiar had also acted in a film Velaikari written by the reformist writer and DMK founder C N Annadurai and directed by A S A Sami.
A deeply religious person Nambiar was an ardent devotee of Lord Ayyappa of the famous Sabarimala shrine and visited it for more than 65 years which earned him the title Maha Gurusamy .
Recently AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa had personally visited the veteran and sought his blessings on the occasion of her 60th birthday.