Actor Tom Alter passes away

Acclaimed film, tv and theatre actor Tom Alter passed away after losing a long time battle with skin cancer. He was 67. The Padma Shri awardee was battling stage four skin cancer. He is survived by his He is survived by his wife Carol, son Jaime and daughter Afshaan.

A statement was released on behalf of his family which read, “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.”

Alter gained fame for his versatile acting in films and Tv shows. His role as gangster Keshav Kalsi in Tv show Junoon catapulted him to instant fame in the 90s. Alter had also authored fiction and non-fiction books and was also a sports journalist briefly and was the first one to interview Sachin Tendulkar long before the little master made his cricket debut.

Alter’s filmography included Satyajit Ray’s Shatranj Ke Khiladi (1977), Shyam Benega’s Junoon (1979), Manoj Kumar’s magnum opus Kranti (1981) and Raj Kapoor’s Ram Teri Ganga Maili (1985), Ramanand Sagar’s Charas in 1976,   Alter also worked with reputed directors like V Shantaram, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Manmohan Desai, Subhash Ghai, Chetan Anand and Vidhu Vinod Chopra among others.