Saeed Jaffrey

Born: January 8 1929
Where: Maler Kotla, India

The star of such classics as Gandhi, A Passage to India and My Beautiful Laundrette is the first Asian actor to be awarded the OBE for services to drama.

The former husband of celebrity cookery writer Madhur Jaffrey, he is known for his dapper style and the catchphrase "My dear boy."

After attending the University of Allahabad, where he studied history, he joined the Staff Training Institute of All India Radio.

His career in drama began as the founder of his own English theatre company - the Unity Theatre - in New Delhi between 1951 and 1956.

He also served with All India Radio as a director while playing a variety of roles including productions of Tennessee Williams, Fry, Priesty, Wilde, and Shakespeare.

After studying at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art he went to America on a Fulbright scholarship and took a second post-graduate degree in drama from the Catholic University in America.

From 1958 to 1960 he was the director of publicity and advertising for the Government of India in their Tourist Office in the USA.

In 1960 he made his big screen debut as narrator of The Creation of Women but made his mark as Mr. Hamidulla in the BBC series A Passage to India.

Subsequent big screen appearances included The Guru and 1975's The Man Who Would Be King, alongside Sean Connery and Michael Caine.

At the same time he attracted attention on British television as Rafiq in the series Gangsters.

His first film in India was Satyajit Ray's The Chess Players (1977), in which he starred opposite Richard Attenborough.

In 1982, he appeared alongside Ben Kingsley in Richard Attenborough's Ghandi and went on to star in the hit TV series The Far Pavilions.

Director David Lean cast him his 1994 adaptation of EM Forster's A Passage To India opposite Judy Davis and he enjoyed further success on the small screen in Tandoori Nights.

In 1985, Stephen Frears cast him as a money-grabbing Thatcherite in the critically acclaimed My Beautiful Laundrette with Daniel Day Lewis.

Jaffrey would subsequently confine his appearances to Bollywood with the occasional foray onto British TV - Ravi Desai in Coronation Street and the drama Little Napoleons.

Recent work includes the woeful Lancashire-set romantic comedy Chicken Tikka Masala.