South Indian actress Srividya dead

Thiruvananthapuram: Well known South Indian actress Srividya died on Thursday night after a prolonged illess. She was 53.

Srividya was admitted to a private hospital in the city two days ago and died following internal bleeding and cardiac arrest, hospital sources said.

She had been undergoing chemotherapy for a long time.

Daughter of Carnatic singer M L Vasanthakumari, Srividya began her film career at the age of 13 in Thiruvarutselvar, a Tamil movie and had acted in about 900 films in various languages.

Srividya had put up memorable performance in scores of Malayalam films and she won the state government's best actress award twice. Her first Malayalam film was Chattambikavala.

At the height of her career, she married businessman George Thomas but they separated some years back. She had also acted in several Malayalam television serials.