Padma Shri actor Tom Alter died late Friday night after battling stage four skin cancer. He was a renowned television and theatre artist.
Tom Alter acted in many TV shows and over 300 movies. He was known as the gangster Keshav Kalsi in the show named ‘Junoon’ which ran for five years during the 90s. Alter was also a director and was also a sports journalist during the 1980s and 1990s. He was the first ever person to interview Sachin Tendulkar for television when he was yet to debut for India. Tom Alter has also written three books and in 2008 he was also awarded the Padma Shri for his assistance for art and cinema.
A statement announced by his family said: “It is with sadness we announce the death of Tom Alter, actor, writer, director, Padma Shri, and our dear husband and father. Tom passed away Friday night at home with his family and close family members in attendance. We ask for their privacy to be respected at this time.”
Tom Alter was a third-generation American in India who studied at Woodstock School in the Himalayas and then briefly at Yale University in the USA, before returning to India in the early 70s. In 1972, he was one of three men - the others being Benjamin Gilani and Phunsok Ladakhi - chosen from over 800 applicants across north India to be enrolled in at the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India in Pune, where two years later he graduated with a gold medal diploma in acting.
In the 90s, Alter was seen in well known films like Mahesh Bhatt’s ‘Aashiqui’, ‘Junoon’ and ‘Gumrah’, Ketan Mehta’s ‘Sardar’ and Priyadarshan’s ‘Kala Pani’. He also acted in regional cinema - Bengali, Assamese, Telegu, Tamil and Kumaoni films. Among his foreign films are Richard Attenborough’s 'Gandhi' and 'One Night with the King', in which he acted opposite his idol, the legendary Peter O’Toole.
On TV, Alter’s leading work came in 'Bharat EK Khoj', 'Ghutan', 'Shaktimaan', 'Captain Vyom', 'Mere Ghar Aana Zindagi' and 'Yahaan Ke Hum Sikandar'. Most recently, he was seen in a significant role in the ongoing serial 'Rishton Ka Chakravyuh' on Star Plus..
In early 2017, Alter performed a festival of his various plays in Hindi, English, Hindustani and Urdu titled titled ‘Jashn-e-Maazi': The Play of History’ which featured 19 of his portrayals and adaptations of leading historical figures such as Maulana Azad, Mirza Ghalib, Manto, Saahir Ludhianvi, Rabindranath Tagore, Bahadur Shah Zafar, Alfred Einstein and Mahatma Gandhi.
