Veteran Telugu and Tamil actor Rallapally Venkata Narasimha Rao died last evening at a private hospital in Hyderabad of a cardiac arrest. He was 73.
The actor, commonly known simply as Rallapally, was admitted to the hospital on 15 May with a liver problem. Last evening he suffered a cardiac arrest while in the hospital and could not be revived.
Starting off with theatre at a young age, Rallapally entered cinema and acted in over 800 movies in the course of his long career. He was known for mostly playing supporting characters and comic roles, though he did play the lead as well in some films.
Some of his best known films are Oorummadi Brathukulu (1976), Thoorpu Velle Railu (1979), Srivariki Premalekha (1984), Rendu Rellu Aaru (1986) and Bombay (1995).
Rallapally received three state Nandi awards, including the Nandi award for Best Actor for Oorummadi Brathukulu.
Rallapally also worked at the Union ministry of information and broadcasting for a while.