Another tragedy struck the Tollywood film industry on Wednesday when Dada Saheb Phalke Award winner and doyen of Telugu cinema, legendary actor and producer Akkineni Nageswara Rao (fondly called ANR), died in the early hours in Hyderabad today. He was 90.

Battling cancer for years, ANR condition worsened at around 1.30 am Wednesday early morning, and he was rushed to hospital where he died. ANR Married to Annapurna Akkineni  survived by three daughters and two sons.Venkat Akkineni,Akkineni Nagarjuna,Sathyavathi Akkineni,Naga Susheela A,Saroja Akkineni

ANR was wheeled into Care Hospital, Banjara Hills after his condition noticeably deteriorated. Doctors attended to him for almost an hour, but the veteran actor breathed his last at around 2.45 am.  His body was then shifted to his residence.  At around 9.00 am his dead body will be moved to Annapurna Studio.

 Akkineni Nageshwara Rao, better known as ANR, was born on September 20, 1924 in Venkata Raghavapuram in Krishna district. Mr Rao had an acting career spanning 75 years and had acted in the lead role as hero in  Telugu films apart from working in several Tamil films as well.

He was honoured with India's second highest civilian award Padma Vibhushan in 2011. He was also honoured with Padma Shri.

He is credited with being a pioneer in shifting Telugu film industry from then Madras to Hyderabad. ANR was shooting for his last movie Manam. The movie also stars his son, Nagarjuna, and grandson Naga Chaitanya. 

ANR received three Filmfare awards, and also won the Nandi Award for Bangaru Kutumbam and Megha Sandesam. Interestingly, he was the first actor to play double role in Telugu.
ANR's started his career playing female roles on stage.

ANR and Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao better known as NTR were considered to be the two pillars on which the Telugu film industry thrived. Some of his hit films include,Tenali Rama Krishna, Devdas, Maya Bazaar, Missamma, Muga Manasulu, Dr. Chakravarthi, Dasara Bullodu, Prem Nagar, Premabhishekam, Seetaramayyagari Manavaralu.