Bollywood lost another talented thespian on Friday, as veteran actor Sujit Kumar has passed away, it was announced by his family. The cause of death was not made public. He was 75.

The long-time actor was considered the greatest actor of “Bhojpuri” cinema and was one of Bollywood’s first great stars of supporting roles, starring in classic Hindi films such as Aankhen, The Burning Train and Aradhana.

Along the way, Kumar had worked with some of the biggest names in what is now old-school Bollywood, including Dev Anand, Helen, Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Rajesh Khanna, Om Prakash and Ashok Kumar.

He also produced films starring the most popular names in new-school Bollywood, working with Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit in Khel, as well as Amitabh Bachchan, John Abraham and Bipasha Basu in Aetbaar; he also produced Champion, starring Sunny Deol and Manisha Koraila.

While never cast as a leading role in a major Bollywood production, Kumar was a mainstay in Hindi cinema as a powerful supporting character since his big-screen debut in the 1960 film Honeymoon.

Since, he has played many fatherly or authoritative roles, such as a police commissioner or chief inspector.

His last film appearance was in the 2001 film Inteqam — his only credited movie of the 21st century. In all, Kumar was credited with working on as many as 160 films, according to his profile on the Internet Movie Database.

In 1984, Kumar also wrote and directed Paan Khaye Saiyan Hamaar, his only accredited behind-the-camera project.

Kumar is survived by son Jatin Kumar and daughter Henna; he was one of the most recognizable faces of Bhojpuri cinema, which is the film industry of the northeastern Indian states of Uttar Pradhesh and Bihar, as well as Terai in southern Nepal.

Sources close the family announced that a chautha ceremony (condolence meeting) is scheduled on the afternoon of February 8th at the Indian Medical Association adjacent to PVR Cinema in Juhu, Mumbai.