Thomas Beach Alter (22 June 1950 – 29 September 2017) was an Indian actor. He was best known for his works in

Hindi cinema Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

, and Indian theatre. In 2008, he was awarded the

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

by the

Government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

Early life

Born in Mussoorie in present-day

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...

, Alter was the son of American

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their n ...

missionaries of

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

, Scottish and

Swiss German Swiss German (Standard German: , gsw, Schwiizerdütsch, Schwyzerdütsch, Schwiizertüütsch, Schwizertitsch Mundart,Because of the many different dialects, and because there is no defined orthography for any of them, many different spelling ...

ancestry and lived for years in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

and the Himalayan

hill station A hill station is a town located at a higher elevation than the nearby plain or valley. The term was used mostly in colonial Asia (particularly in India), but also in Africa (albeit rarely), for towns founded by European colonialists as refuges ...

of Landour. His grandparents migrated to

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

, India from

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

, U.S., in November 1916. From there, they moved to and settled in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th List of largest cities, most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is th ...

, in present-day Pakistan. His father was born in Sialkot. After the

Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: India and Pakistan. T ...

, Alter's family too split into two; his grandparents chose to stay in Pakistan while his parents moved to India. After living in

Allahabad Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administra ...

(now Prayagraj),

Jabalpur Jabalpur is a city situated on the banks of Narmada River in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. According to the 2011 census, it is the third-largest urban agglomeration in Madhya Pradesh and the country's 38th-largest urban agglomeration. ...

and

Saharanpur Saharanpur is a city and a municipal corporation in Uttar Pradesh, India. It is also the administrative headquarters of Saharanpur district. Saharanpur city's name was given after the Saint Shah Haroon Chishti. Saharanpur is declared a ...

, in 1954 they finally settled in Rajpur,

, then a small town located between

Dehradun Dehradun () is the capital and the List of cities in Uttarakhand by population, most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous Dehradun district, district and is governed by the Dehr ...

and Mussoorie; Rajpur is now considered a suburb of Dehradun. Alter's siblings are older sister

Martha Chen Martha Chen (née Alter; born February 9, 1944) is an American academic, scholar and social worker, who is presently a lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and senior advisor of the global research-policy-action network WIEGO ( ...

, who teaches at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

and brother John, a poet. Author

Stephen Alter Stephen Alter (born 1956) is an author of non-fiction and fiction, who was born and raised in India, where he grew up as the son of American missionaries. He lives in Littleton, Colorado, United States and Landour, Uttarakhand, India. He gradua ...

is a first cousin. As a child, Alter studied

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

among other subjects in Mussoorie. Consequently, he came to be occasionally referred to as the "Blue-eyed saheb with impeccable Hindi." He was educated in Mussoorie's

Woodstock School Woodstock School is an international coeducational residential school located in Landour, a small hill station contiguous with the town of Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India, in the foothills of the Himalayas. Woodstock is one of the oldest residen ...

. At 18, Alter left for the U.S. for higher education and studied at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

for a year before returning to India upon losing interest in studies. The following year, he obtained work as a teacher at St. Thomas School,

Jagadhri Jagadhri is a city and a municipal council in the Yamunanagar district of the Indian state of Haryana. This town lies adjacent to the city of Yamunanagar. The demarcation line between the two is difficult to discern. Jagadhri is around 90 ...

, in

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ...

. He worked there for six months, simultaneously coaching his students in

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

. Over the next two and a half years, Alter worked several jobs, teaching for a while at Woodstock School, Mussoorie, and working at a hospital in the U.S., and returning to India before continuing to work at Jagadhri. At Jagadhri, he began to watch Hindi films. It was during this time that he saw the Hindi film '' Aradhana'', which proved to be a turning point in his career and drifted towards a career in acting, inspired by the lead actor

Rajesh Khanna Rajesh Khanna () (; born Jatin Khanna; 29 December 1942 – 18 July 2012) was an Indian actor, film producer and politician who worked in Hindi films. He is called as the "First Superstar of Hindi cinema", he consecutively starred in a record ...

. He headed to

Film and Television Institute of India The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) is a film institute under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India and aided by the Central Government of India. It is situated on the premises of the erstwhile ...

(FTII) in

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

, where he studied acting from 1972 to 1974 under Roshan Taneja. In a 2017 interview, he recalled, "I came to Mumbai to become Rajesh Khanna; didn't come to act on stage."

Career

Film

After graduating from FTII, Alter headed straight to Mumbai (Formerly called as Bombay) and soon got his first break in the

Dev Anand Dharamdev Pishorimal Anand (26 September 1923 – 3 December 2011), better known as Dev Anand, was an Indian actor, writer, director and producer known for his work in Hindi cinema, through a career that spanned over six decades. He was ...

starrer ''

Saheb Bahadur ''Sahib Bahadur'' is a 1977 Bollywood film directed by Chetan Anand. Plot In a small town of Chamba (Himachal Pradesh), situated in a picturesque Indian valley, lives a corrupt Deputy collector, Hare Murari, an equally corrupt Police Superinten ...

'' (1977), directed by Chetan Anand. However, his first release was

Ramanand Sagar Chandramauli Chopra ( ; 29 December 1917 – 12 December 2005) known professionally as Ramanand Sagar, was an Indian filmmaker, editor, playwright, poet and an author. He is best known for making the television show ''Ramayan'' (1987-1988). The ...

's ''

Charas Charas is a cannabis concentrate made from the resin of a live cannabis plant (''Cannabis sativa'' either '' ''Indica' subspecies or ''Sativa'' subspecies) and is handmade in the Indian subcontinent and Jamaica. The plant grows wild through ...

''. This was followed by roles in ''Des Pardes'', ''Ram Bharose'', ''Hum Kisise Kum Nahin'' and ''Parvarish''. He dubbed for actor Jeevan for the innocent person of the twin roles played by Jeevan in the film '' Amar Akbar Anthony''. Alter was fluent in Hindi and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Shayari. He worked for noted filmmakers like

Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs of ...

in '' Shatranj Ke Khilari'' and is remembered for his role as a British officer in '' Kranti''. He got the opportunity to act with his idol

in the film ''

Naukri ''Naukri'' () is a 1978 Bollywood film directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. It was critically acclaimed and became an unexpected flop at the box office. However over the years, the film has been appreciated by the audiences in its screening in tele ...

'', directed by

Hrishikesh Mukherjee Hrishikesh Mukherjee (30 September 1922 – 27 August 2006) was an Indian film director, editor and writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of Indian cinema. Popularly known as ''Hrishi-da'', he directed 42 films during his ca ...

in 1978 and later in Chetan Anand's Kudrat. In ''

Sardar Sardar, also spelled as Sardaar/Sirdar ( fa, سردار, , 'commander', literally 'headmaster'), is a title of royalty and nobility that was originally used to denote princes, noblemen, chiefs, kings and other aristocrats. It has also be ...

'', the 1993 film biography of Indian leader Sardar Patel, which focused on the events surrounding the partition and independence of India, Alter portrayed Lord Mountbatten of Burma. He also acted in the Hollywood movie '' One Night with the King'' with

Peter O'Toole Peter Seamus O'Toole (; 2 August 1932 – 14 December 2013) was a British stage and film actor. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and began working in the theatre, gaining recognition as a Shakespearean actor at the Bristol Old V ...

. In 1996 he appeared in the Assamese film ''

Adajya ''Adajya'' () is a 1996 Indian Assamese language drama film directed by Santwana Bardoloi based on the novel '' Dontal Haatir Uiye Khowa Haoda'' by Indira Goswami. The film was screened at several international film festivals. Plot The film i ...

'', and in 2007 acted in William Dalrymple's '' City of Djinns'' alongside

Zohra Sehgal Zohra Mumtaz Sehgal (born Sahibzadi Zohra Mumtazullah Khan Begum; 27 April 1912 – 10 July 2014) was an Indian actress, dancer, and choreographer. Having begun her career as a member of a contemporary dance troupe, she transitioned into acting ...

and Manish Joshi Bismil. He also appeared in the solo play ''Maulana'' and the film ''Ocean of An Old Man''. Alter played the role of a doctor in '' Bheja Fry'', a comedy movie starring

Rajat Kapoor Rajat Kapoor (born 11 February 1961) is an Indian actor, filmmaker and playwright who works in Hindi cinema. Kapoor was born in Delhi, India. He mainly focused on acting at first. In 2013 he joined the theatre group Chingari in Delhi, later mov ...

. In April 2011 he acted in a short film ''Yours, Maria'' directed by Chirag Vadgama, playing the lead role of Matthew Chacha in the movie. Alter lent his voice for the authorized audio autobiography of Dr. Verghese Kurien, titled ''The Man Who Made The Elephant Dance'', which was released in 2012. Some of his most famous movie roles have been as Musa in Vidhu Vinod Chopra's acclaimed crime drama ''Parinda'', Mahesh Bhatt's blockbuster romance ''Aashiqui'', and Ketan Mehta's ''Sardar'', in which Alter essayed the role of Lord Mountbatten. His last film was '' Hamari Paltan'' (2018).

Television

Alter appeared in much Indian television series, including '' Samvidhaan'', all of which were praised by the audience for his acting. In ''

Zabaan Sambhalke ''Zabaan Sambhalke'' (transl. ''Watch Your Tongue'') is an Indian Hindi sitcom directed by Rajiv Mehra. It is the Indian version of the British sitcom ''Mind Your Language'' (1977). The show ran for two seasons, first in 1993–1994 with 54 epi ...

'' he played the role of a British writer, Charles Spencers, who lives in India and wants to learn the Hindi language. He acted in the TV series ''Khamosh Sa Afsana'' (as a Husain Baba), telecast on

Doordarshan Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest b ...

in 2014–15. In November 2014, he played Sahir Ludhianvi in a stage production based on the life and work of the famous Urdu poet and film lyricist. He also played a schoolteacher in '' Yahan Ke Hum Sikandar''. Alter has worked as the red robe guru in

Mukesh Khanna Mukesh Khanna (born 23 June 1958) is an Indian actor, talk show host and producer who works in Hindi language films and television shows. He is best known for his portrayal of Shaktimaan, the superhero character in '' Shaktimaan'' (1997–2005) ...

's TV production '' Shaktimaan'' (1998–2002). Also, he appeared in Contiloe & Cinevistaas show '' Ssshhhh...Koi Hai'' in 2002-03. He played Indian characters in Indian television series, such as the long-running '' Junoon'', in which he was the sadistic mob lord Keshav Kalsi. He anchored "Adabi Cocktail" in 2000 telecast on Urdu Television Network and interviewed Johny Walker, Naushad, TunTun, Hasan Kamaal, Adnan Sami, Jagdeep, Naqsh layalpuri and many more. Tom Alter as Zafar

Theatre

Alter was also a stage actor. In 1977, he, Naseeruddin Shah, and

Benjamin Gilani Benjamin Gilani is an Indian film, television and stage actor who works in Hindi cinema. Early life and career Gilani was schooled at Bishop Cotton School, Shimla. He is a postgraduate from Delhi University having studied and taught English li ...

formed a theatre group called Motley Productions. Their first play was

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and Tragicomedy, tr ...

's play '' Waiting for Godot'', which was staged at

Prithvi Theatre Prithvi Theatre is one of Mumbai's best known theatres. It was built by Shashi Kapoor and his wife Jennifer Kapoor in memory of Prithviraj Kapoor, Shashi's father, who had dreamt of having a "home" for his repertory theatre company, Prithvi ...

, Bombay, on 29 July 1979. He went on to appear in many other plays at the theatre, including an adaptation of Vaikom Muhammad Basheer's ''My Grandad Had an Elephant'' which was performed on 7 June 2011. He has also worked with the

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Hous ...

theatre group Pierrot's Troupe. In the early 2000s, he played the Indian independence activist

Maulana Azad Abul Kalam Ghulam Muhiyuddin Ahmed bin Khairuddin Al-Hussaini Azad (; 11 November 1888 – 22 February 1958) was an Indian independence activist, Islamic theologian, writer and a senior leader of the Indian National Congress. Following Ind ...

in a one-man Urdu-language play. In ''Ghalib In Delhi'', he played the role of

Urdu poet Urdu poetry ( ur, ) is a tradition of poetry and has many different forms. Today, it is an important part of the cultures of South Asia. According to Naseer Turabi there are five major poets of Urdu which are Mir Taqi Mir (d.1810), Mirza Ghalib ...

Mirza Ghalib. He was the lead actor in "Once Upon A Time", a collection of five short stories presented as vignettes, directed by Sujata Soni Bali and co-starring prominent stage actor and TV personality Sunit Tandon. The production was last staged in Mumbai on 17 June 2017.

Writing and journalism

Alter has written books including ''The Longest Race'', ''Rerun at Rialto'', and ''The Best in the World''. He was also a sports journalist with a special interest in cricket, a game on which he has written extensively in publications such as ''

Sportsweek ''Sportsweek'' is a topical sports show broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live. The show airs on Sunday mornings and is presented by Garry Richardson, who is also a presenter on the '' Today'' show on BBC Radio 4. The show is produced by Richardson's ow ...

'', ''Outlook'', ''Cricket Talk'', '' Sunday Observer'', ''

Firstpost ''Firstpost'' is an Indian online news and media website. The site is a part of the Network 18 media conglomerate owned by Reliance Industries, which also runs CNN-News18 CNN-News18 (originally CNN-IBN) is an Indian English-language ne ...

'', ''

Citizen Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

'', and ''Debonair''. He played cricket for a film industry team MCC (Match Cut Club), which includes

Naseeruddin Shah Naseeruddin Shah (born 20 July 1950) is an Indian actor. He is notable in Indian parallel cinema. He has also starred in international productions. He has won numerous awards in his career, including three National Film Awards, three Filmfare ...

Satish Shah Satish Shah (born 25 June 1951) is an Indian actor. He is best known for his comic roles in films like '' Jaane bhi Do Yaaro'' (1983), '' Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi'' (1984), '' Sarabhai vs Sarabhai'' (2004), '' Main Hoon Na'' (2004), ''Kal Ho Naa Ho'' ...

, Vishal Bhardwaj, Aamir Khan, Nana Patekar, Bhupinder Singh and Amarinder Sangha. He also wrote on cricket in Indian publications. In 1996, he was invited by friend Siraj Syed to Singapore, to do cricket commentary in Hindi, for Indian viewers, on the sports TV channel,

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. In addition to acting, Alter also ventured into a direction - he directed a one-shot episode for the short-lived series ''Yule Love Stories'' in the mid-1990s - and was a sports journalist in the late 1980s to early 1990s. He has written three books: one non-fiction, and two fiction. Before his sudden death, Alter had just announced his inaugural feature film as a director called Rerun at Rialto, which was based on the book written by him.

Personal life

Alter married Carol Evans, a fellow Woodstock School student, in 1977. The marriage produced two children: son Jamie and daughter Afshaan. Jamie has worked as a cricket writer for ''

ESPNcricinfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a d ...

'' and '' CricBuzz'', and was also the sports editor of ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest s ...

''. As a cricket enthusiast himself, Tom wrote columns for newspapers and journals for over ten years. He also worked as a journalist during the time and was the first to video interview Indian cricketer

Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-sco ...

in 1988. In September 2017, Alter was diagnosed with stage IV

skin cancer Skin cancers are cancers that arise from the skin. They are due to the development of abnormal cells that have the ability to invade or spread to other parts of the body. There are three main types of skin cancers: basal-cell skin cancer (BCC) ...

(

squamous cell carcinoma Squamous-cell carcinomas (SCCs), also known as epidermoid carcinomas, comprise a number of different types of cancer that begin in squamous cells. These cells form on the surface of the skin, on the lining of hollow organs in the body, and on the ...

). His thumb had been amputated a year earlier because of the condition. He died on 29 September at his residence in

. A statement released on behalf of his family read: "It is with sadness we announce the death of our beloved Tom Alter, actor, writer, director, Padma Shri, and our dear husband and father. Tom passed away Friday night at home with his family and close family members in attendance."

Filmography

Film

TV series

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Alter, Tom 1950 births 2017 deaths Indian male film actors Indian male stage actors Indian male television actors Assamese-language actors Indian Presbyterians Indian people of American descent People from Mussoorie Male actors from Mumbai Male actors in Hindi cinema Film and Television Institute of India alumni Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Male actors in Gujarati-language films Indian people of English descent Indian people of Scottish descent Indian people of Swiss descent Indian people of German descent Indian people of Swiss-German descent Male actors in Malayalam cinema Male actors in Kannada cinema Deaths from cancer in India Indian amputees