Akkineni Nageswara Rao

Akkineni Nageswara Rao (September 20, 1923 – January 22, 2014), known by the initialism ANR, was an Indian actor and film producer who worked predominantly in Telugu cinema alongside appearances in Tamil films. After starting in theatre and making his screen debut in *Dharmapatni* (1941), he achieved his breakthrough as a leading man in the folklore fantasy *Balaraju* (1948) and the romance *Keelu Gurram* (1949). Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, he established himself as a central figure in South Indian cinema, headlining the tragic romance *Devadasu* (1953), the social comedies *Missamma* (1955) and *Gundamma Katha* (1962), the mythological drama *Mayabazar* (1957), and the drama *Doctor Chakravarthy* (1964).