New Delhi: Yesteryear actress Leela Naidu passed away on Tuesday in Mumbai due to lung failure after a prolonged bout of influenza. She was 69.
Naidu, who made her film debut alongside Balraj Sahni in Anuradha (1960), directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, was the daughter of well-known nuclear physicist Ramaiah Naidu and her mother was of French origin.
She also acted in Ummeed (1962)and with Sunil Dutt in Yeh Raaste Hain Pyar Ke. In 1963, she was roped in to play the lead in the first Merchant Ivory Production, The Householder, directed by James Ivory.
later she also made a guest appearance in their film, The Guru (1969).
Naidu was crowned Femina Miss India in 1954 and Vogue magazine had described her one of the most beautiful women on earth.
Naidu married Bikki Oberoi, the heir to the Oberoi Hotels chain, with whom she had twin daughters.
She later divorced and married poet Dom Moraes, and stayed with him in Hong Kong for about ten years.
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