Dr. Rajkumar was born in 1929 in Gajanur and brought up in a poor
family. He only studied up to 3rd standard before he dropped out of
school. He wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father, a traveling
actor who performed in various villages. He joined the Gubbi Veeranna
drama company to play drama. There he met people like
T.R. Narasimharaju,
Nandamuri Balakrishna and
G.V. Iyer, who co-starred with him in his
first film, Bedara Kannappa (1954).
His three sons--Shivarajkumar, Raghavendra
Rajkumar and Puneeth Rajkumar--are all
Kannada film actors. His other films have included
Havina Hede (1981),
Dashavtara (1960),
Yarivanu? (1984),
Kamana Billu (1983) and he had the
lead role in
Odahuttidavaru (1969). His last
film was Shabdavedi (2000). After this
movie he declared that he was about to act in another film, "Bhakta
Ambareesha", but he suffered a mild heart attack, and decided to retire
from acting altogether.
