![]() In Britain, his leading roles in movie ‘My Beautiful Laundrette’ (1985) and television series ‘Tandoori Nights’ (1985-1987) and ‘Little Napoleons’ (1994) made him considered as the highest profile Asian actor of the 1980s and 1990s. He was the first Asian to receive British and Canadian film award nominations. In 1995, he was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to drama, the first Asian to receive this honour. His memoirs ‘Saeed: An Actor's Journey’ were published in 1998. He died at a hospital in London on November 15, 2015, collapsing after a brain haemorrhage. In January 2016, he was posthumously conferred the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian honour by the Government of India, for his contribution to cinematic arts. Early Life and Education of Saeed Jaffrey Saeed Jaffrey was born into a Punjabi Muslim family on January 8, 1929, in Malerkotla, Punjab. In 1938, Jaffrey joined Minto Circle School at Aligarh Muslim University where he developed his talent for mimicry. In 1939, he played the role of Dara Shikoh in a school play on Aurangzeb, the last reigning Mughal Emperor. At Aligarh, Jaffrey also mastered the Urdu language. ![]() Career of Saeed Jaffrey Saeed Jaffrey travelled to New Delhi in 1951, to try his luck as a cartoonist, writer or broadcaster. He successfully auditioned for an announcer at All India Radio and began his radio career as an English Announcer with the External Services of All India Radio, at a salary of Rs. 250 per month. In the initial period, Saeed spent his nights on the bench behind the office building unable to afford a place to stay and having no relatives in the city. Along with Frank Thakurdas and 'Benji' Benegal, Saeed set up Unity Theatre, an English language repertory company at New Delhi in 1951. The first production was of Jean Cocteau's play ‘The Eagle Has Two Heads’, with Madhur Bahadur playing the role of the Queen's Reader opposite Saeed as Azrael. Unity Theatre subsequently staged J. B. Priestley's ‘Dangerous Corner’, Dylan Thomas' ‘Under Milk Wood’, Molière's ‘The Bourgeois Gentleman’, Christopher Fry's ‘The Firstborn’ and T. S. Eliot's ‘The Cocktail Party’. In late 1955, Saeed Jaffrey won a Fulbright scholarship to study drama in America the following year and moved to New York City. In 1957, after graduating from Catholic University of America's Department of Speech and Drama, Saeed acted in summer stock plays at St. Michael’s Playhouse in Winooski, Vermont. He played the lead in three of the plays: Sakini, the Okinawan interpreter in ‘The Teahouse of the August Moon’, barrister Sir Wilfred Robarts in Agatha Christie's ‘Witness for the Prosecution’ and Voice of God, with Gino, in ‘The Little World of Don Camillo’. In September 1957, he returned to Washington, D.C. and rehearsed for the 1957-58 season with the National Players, a professional touring company that performed classical plays all over America. He was the first Indian to take Shakespearean plays on a tour of the United States. He was cast in the role of Friar Laurence in ‘Romeo and Juliet’. In 1958, Saeed joined Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio and played the lead in an off-Broadway production of Federico García Lorca's ‘Blood Wedding’. At that time, he met Ismail Merchant who had recently arrived from Bombay to attend New York University Stern School of Business. Merchant approached Saeed with a proposal to put on a Broadway production of ‘The Little Clay Cart’. He also provided the narration for Merchant's Oscar-nominated short film ‘The Creation of Woman’. In 1959, James Ivory, then a budding film maker from California, approached Saeed to provide the narration for his short film about Indian miniature painting, ‘The Sword and the Flute’. ![]() Apart from radio, theatre and television, Saeed Jaffrey’s film career encompasses work with actors like Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan and Michael Caine. He worked with film makers such as Satyajit Ray, James Ivory and Richard Attenborough. His films include ‘The Wilby Conspiracy’ (1975), ‘The Man Who Would Be King’ (1975), ‘Shatranj Ke Khilari’ (1977), ‘Sphinx’ (1981), ‘Gandhi’ (1982), ‘The Far Pavilions’ (1984), ‘The Razor's Edge’ (1984) and ‘My Beautiful Laundrette’ (1985). Personal Life of Saeed Jaffrey Saeed Jaffrey married actress Madhur Jaffrey in late 50s at Washington, D.C. and together they had 3 children, Zia, Meera and Sakina. Sakina Jaffrey is also an actress and acted alongside her father in the Canadian film ‘Masala’ (1992). Their marriage dissolved in 1966. In 1980, Saeed married Jennifer Sorrell, an agent and freelance casting director. |
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