Bengaluru: Veteran Kannada actor and Sandalwood movie producer R.N. Sudarshan passed away yesterday at the Sagar Hospital in Bengaluru’s Tilak Nagar. He was 78.

According to reports, Sudarshan was hospitalised due to illness last week. Sudarshan is the son of R. Nagendra Rao, who is regarded as one of the founding fathers of the Kannada film industry.

Sudarshan comes from a family of artistes. His siblings, R.N. Jayagopal was a popular lyricist in Kannada and his other brother R.N.K. Prasad was a popular cinematographer. Sudarshan is survived by his wife Shylashree, who is a Tamil actor.

Sudarshan debuted in the 1961 Kannada film ‘Vijayanagarada Veeraputra’ and was just 21 years old at the time. The film was directed by his father and written by his brother.

He went on to play the lead role in at least 50 films. He has also acted in over 250 films in Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu films. He was currently acting in the Kannada TV series ‘Agni Sakshi.’ He was last seen in Golden Star Ganesh’s movie ‘Zoom.’ Some of his notable films include ‘Naguva Hoovu’, ‘Mareyada Deepavali’, ‘Maria’, ‘My Darling’, ‘Paayum Pul’ and ‘Matha’.

Among the many talents he possessed, he was also a playback singer. One of his most memorable songs is ‘hoovuondu ballibandu’.

One of his most popular roles was that of a ‘tantrik’ in the film ‘Prachanda Kulla’. He also co-starred with his wife Shylashree in Sandalwood films ‘Naguva Hoovu’, ‘Kadina Rahasya’, ‘Kallara Kalla’ and ‘Malathi Madhava’.