CHENNAI: Popular Tamil actor Delhi Ganesh, known for both comedy and supporting roles, breathed his last on Saturday. He was 80.
Ganesh's son Mahadevan informed about his father's demise on his Instagram handle. The Nayakan actor reportedly passed away due to age related illness at his Ramapuram residence.
Ganesh was born on August 1, 1944 in Tirunelveli. Delhi became a part of Ganesh's name as he started off as a theatre artist in a Delhi based drama troupe Dakshina Bharata Nataka Sabha. Interestingly, Ganesh served as a part of the Indian Air Force for a decade from 1964-1974 before entering films with K Balachander's Pattina Pravesam (1976).
Apart from his comic roles, he has played the lead in MA Kaja's Engamma Maharani (1981) and villain roles in Apoorva Sagotharargal (1989) and Chidambara Ragasiyam (1985). Some of the notable films of his filmography are Sindhu Bhairavi (1985), Michael Madana Kama Rajan (1990), Sri Raghavendar (1985), Avvai Shanmugi (1996) and Thenali (2001).
He won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize for his performance in Pasi (1979). He was conferred the Kalaimamani title in 1994 by the then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. He made his final appearance in Kamal Haasan-Shankar's Indian 2.
(This story originally appeared on Cinema Express)