Veteran Indian Bollywood actor Pran is seen after he was honored with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke award by Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari at his residence in Mumbai in this file photo.  — AFP

NEW DELHI  — Bollywood’s legendary actor Pran, who played both heroes and villains in several Hindi film classics over six decades, died of pneumonia at Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital on Friday, his doctor said. He was 93.



Pran acted in more than 350 Hindi movies in a long, prolific career dating back to the 1940s. He played a vast range of roles — a hero, villain and character actor — but was best known for his roles as villains.



Sanjeev Mehta, his doctor, said Pran Krishan Sikand, popularly known as Pran, was hospitalized more than two weeks ago in the Mumbai hospital and died on Friday.



He was presented the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the Indian government’s highest honor for cinema, in May at his Mumbai home by Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari.



He also received several other prestigious awards, including Filmfare magazine’s “Lifetime Achievement Award” in 1997 and the ‘Villain of the Millennium’ by Stardust magazine three years later.— AP