Tony Ranasinghe

Deshabandu Ranasinghe Hettiarachchilage Ignatius Anthony Silva (31 July 1937 – 16 June 2015 as ටෝනි රණසිංහ), popularly as Tony Ranasinghe, was an actor in Sri Lankan cinema, theater and television.

He is known as the Lover of the 70s in Sri Lankan cinema due to the many popular films in which he acted. He was mostly restricted to innocent main role which is full of glamour and feelings. According to critics, he is the last Crowned king in Sri Lankan cinema to die after Gamini Fonseka and Joe Abeywickrama.

He has acted in 115 films, in 43 of which he was the leading actor and in 72 of which he played a supporting role. He also contributed as a script writer in two films.

Personal life

Ranasinghe Hettiarachchilage Ignatius Anthony Silva, who later became popular as Tony Ranasinghe, was born July 31, 1937 in Modara to Emmanuel Cyril and Lilian Fernando as the second of the family. He had 8 siblings in the family - The eldest is the Ralex. Other younger members include Stella, Marie, Gina, Romwell, Christopher, and Daya. He studied at St. Anthony's College, Wattala, and De LaSalle College, Modera. His father worked as a Technical Officer in the Department of Posts and Telecommunications. He joined Modara Dilasal College in 1948 to study English. He was a cricket fan during school times and used to collected photographs of Don Bradman.

He started his career as an English stenographer and quit from the job after few months. He changes his name to an advertisement for the 1962 drama "Bodinkarayo" with the influence from his brother Ralex.

He was married to longtime partner Sirima Indrani Wickramasuriya. The wedding was celebrated on 30 April 1962. Ranasinghe died on 16 June 2015 at a public hospital in Colombo at the age of 77.

Career

Ranasinghe began his career in theater with a role in Dharmasiri Wickramaratne's ''Ran Thodu'' in 1963, which won him the Governor General's Award for Best Stage Actor. This award was presented by minister T. B. Ilangaratne. His first film appearance was for Sirisena Wimalaweera's ''Punchi Amma'' but was not screened due to an economic crisis.

Ranasinghe made his film debut with Lester James Peries' '' Gamperaliya'' (1964) and followed it with ''Ran Salu'' with a different villain role in the film. He worked with Peries again on '' Delovak Athara'', in which he had the starring role. He continued to play many main protagonist role in several critically acclaimed blockbuster movies such as ''Parasathu Mal'', ''Baddegama'', ''Hulawali'', ''Duhulu Malak'', ''Hanthane Kathawa'', ''Pawuru Walalu'' and ''Le Kiri Kandulu''.

In his early days, Ranasinghe also appeared in many stage dramas with the collaboration with Sugathapala de Silva's drama group "Ape Kattiya". He acted in the plays ''Bodimkarayo'', ''Thattu Gewal'', ''Waguru Bima'', ''Virupi Muhuna'', ''Harima Badu Hayak'', ''Julius Caesar'' and ''Veniciye Velenda''.

He also acted in few television serials such as ''Awarjana'', ''Suwanda Kekulu'', ''Raigam Yaluwo'', ''Ekata Getuma'', ''Hathe Wasama'', ''Manokaya'', ''Soorya Vinsathi'' and ''Kadamuna''.

In addition to acting, he contributed to the script and drama production. Some of them include ''Koti Waligaya'', ''Awaragira'', ''Tharanaya'', ''Pawuru Walalu'', ''Kelimadala'' and ''Duwata Mawaka Misa''. He worked as the producer of stage plays ''Julius Caesar'', ''Balawa Nawaka Aruma'' and ''Dolosweni Rathriya''. He was also a talented author. He wrote the books ''Jogi Hamarai'', ''Hemadama Oba Mage'' and ''Mata Kawuruth Adare Na''. Then he wrote the novel ''Adaraneeya Ayra'' in weekly parts to Sarasaviya magazine.

Author work

* ''Adaraneeya Ayra''
* ''Jogi Hamarai''
* ''Doloswana Rathriya''
* ''Haemadama Oba Mage''
* ''Mata Kawuruth Adare Na''

Awards

Ranasinghe was awarded the Best Supporting Actor Sarasaviya Award in 1966 for his role in ''Parasathu Mal''. Subsequently he won Best Actor Awards for ''Hanthane Kathawa'' (1969), '' Duhulu Malak'' (1976) and '' Ahasin Polawata'' (1979). In 1980 he played the father of the protagonist in ''Ganga Addara''. 1993's '' Saptha Kanya'' won him Best Actor Awards from Sarasaviya, Swarna Sanka, Presidential and OCIC.

Ranasinghe has dabbled in screenplay writing, winning Sarasaviya Awards for ''Koti Waligaya'', ''Keli Mandala'', ''Awaragira'' (1995) and ''Pavuru Walalu''. Ranasinghe was honoured with the Deshabandu award, third highest national honour awarded in Sri Lanka in 1988.

Filmography

Script writing

Stage dramas

References

External links

Tony Ranasinghe's Biography in Sinhala Cinema Database
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ජීවිත සලරුවක මතක සටහන්රංගවේදියකුගේ සදහටම සමුගැනීමටෝනි නම් රසවතාදොස් ඇති මිනිසුන් නිදොස් කළ ටෝනිදේවදූතයෝ සපිරිවරින් ඔබ නිදි ගැන්මට ගී ගයත්වාපරම්පරා දෙකක් ටෝනි දකින හැටිඅපට ජීවිතය කියාදී මහා නළුවා යන්නටම ගියේයසුබ උපන් දිනයක්

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ranasinghe, Tony
1937 births
2015 deaths
Sri Lankan male film actors
Sri Lankan Roman Catholics
Sinhalese male actors
Deshabandu