Kantha Rao no more

Yesteryear's great hero Kantha Rao passes away on sunday night. He is known for his versatility in the Telugu film industry. His original name is Thadepalli Lakshmi Kantha Rao. He has been suffering from liver cancer for the last few years. When his condition deteriorated, he was shifted to Yashodha Hospitals in Hyderbad. He is survived by four songs and a daughter. Chief Minister Dr. YS Rajasekhar Reddy, TD president Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, other leaders K. Chandra Sekhar Rao, PRP president Mr. Chiranjeevi and scores of film personalities paid thier tributes to the departed actor. Kantha Rao was born on November 16, 1923 at Nalgonda district. He made his debut through Nirdhoshi. His last film was Pandurangadu last year. He received Raghupathi Venkayya award. In his span of five decades, he acted in more than 400 films. In the 1960s he was the third force in Telugu cinema, behind N.T.Rama Rao and Akkineni Nageshwara Rao.