Dilip Kumar

He has been a member of the upper house of Parliament since 2000. His old friend Charlie Chaplin is in a tomb a few steps away. He has been active in efforts to bring the people of India and Pakistan closer. Mason died as a result of a heart attack on July 27, 1984 in Lausanne, Switzerland. He was cremated, and his ashes were eventually buried in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. He married her when he was 44 and she was half his age, and despite apprehensions from the media, the marriage has been one of the longest lasting marriages in Bollywood. One of his last roles, that of a corrupt lawyer in The Verdict (1982), earned him his third and final Oscar nomination. He is married to actress Saira Banu. Mason's distinctive voice enabled him to play a menacing villain as greatly as his good looks assisted him as a leading man. His roles include the declining actor in the 1954 version of A Star Is Born, a mortally wounded terrorist in Odd Man Out (1946), Brutus in the 1953 film of Julius Caesar, Captain Nemo in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), a suave masterspy in North by Northwest (1959), a determined explorer in Journey to the Center of the Earth (also 1959) and Humbert Humbert in Lolita (1963).

His acting has influenced his successors and many actors look up to him and try to emulate his style. Nominated three times for an Oscar, he never won one. His style of acting is characterised by rich dialogues in Urdu and a poetic manner of delivery. In 1949 he made his first Hollywood film, Caught, and then went on to star in many more feature films and TV shows. Dilip Kumar is considered one of the best actors produced by the Hindi film industry. From 1935 to 1949 he starred in many British quota quickies. However his award ran into controversy when war-like conditions strained relations between India and Pakistan, and he was asked to return the award by Hindu extremists like Balasaheb Thackeray. Mason studied architecture at Cambridge University before working at the Old Vic theatre in London and with the Gate Company in Dublin.

He is the second Indian to receive the award, after former Indian prime minister Morarji Desai. James Mason (May 15, 1909 - July 27, 1984) was an actor born in Yorkshire, England who attained stardom in both British and American films. In 1998 he was awarded the Nishan-e-Pakistan, the highest civilian award conferred by the Pakistan government. He was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1995. The role eventually went to Omar Sharif.

However, Kumar was unsure of doing films outside India in which he had no say, and declined the part. Hollywood director David Lean offered Dilip Kumar a role in his 1962 blockbuster, Lawrence of Arabia. He tried his hand as Producer for the film Ganga Jamuna and was rewarded as the film turned out to be successful. The film Mughal-e-Azam (1960) in which he played crown-prince Jehangir, the son of Akbar, was a record-breaking film in the history of the Indian film industry.

In the 50s, his role in Bimal Roy's Devdas as a tragic drunken hero earned him the title of the "Tragedy King". In 1949, he co-starred with Raj Kapoor in the film Andaz, which went to become a major success and made him a superstar. Khan adopted the screen name of Dilip Kumar for his first film Jwar Bhatta released in 1944. His father relocated to Bombay (now Mumbai) and Yusuf Khan got introduced to the Bombay film industry in the 1940s.

Dilip Kumar was born Yusuf Khan in Peshawar (now Pakistan) in a Pathan family of twelve children. He is the recipient of India's highest award for cinematic excellence, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award and also the Nishan-e-Pakistan, Pakistan's highest civilian award. Dilip Kumar (born December 1, 1922) is an Indian film actor and Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha).