Rajkumar

Dr. Rajkumar was born in 1929 in Gajanur and brought up in a poor family. He only studied up to 3rd standard before he dropped out of school. He wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father, a traveling actor who performed in various villages. He joined the Gubbi Veeranna drama company to play drama. There he met people like Narasimhraju, Balakrishna and G.V. Iyer, who co-starred with him in his first film, Bedara Kannapa (1954).

His three sons, Shivrajkumar, Raghavendra Rajkumar and Puneet Rajkumar, are all Kannada film actors now. His other films have included "Haavina Hede", "Dashavtara", "Yarivanu", _Kamanabillu (1980)_ and he had the main role in Odahuttidavaru (1969). His last film was Shabdavedi (2000). After this movie he declared that he was about to act in another film, "Bhakta Ambareesha", but he suffered a mild heart attack, and decided to retire from acting altogether.