Kolkata, Sep 2 (IANS) Veteran stage and screen actor-director Dilip Roy died of cancer in a private hospital here Thursday, family sources said. Roy, 79, left behind his wife and three sons.

Beginning his acting career with the Bengali film ‘Sati Behula’ in 1954, Roy came up with commendable performances in a great variety of roles during his over half a century of association with celluloid.

He was equally at ease portraying the hero or the villain, and also sparkled in a wide range of character roles alongside actors like Uttam Kumar, Soumitra Chatterjee, Suchitra Sen, Anil Chatterjee and Chhabi Biswas.

Some of his well-known movies are ‘Dui Purush’, ‘Apanjan’, ‘Abhaya O Srikanta’, ‘Kshudito Pashan’, ‘Arogya Niketan’, ‘Panna Hire Chuni’, ‘Jhinder Bandi’ and ‘Hanshuli Banker Upakatha’.

Roy also directed three much-acclaimed movies – ‘Devdas’ (1979), ‘Amrita Kumbher Sandhaney’ (1982) and ‘Neelkantha’ (1985).