Born on August 20, 1935 to Mysore Puttalingappa and  Gangamma, he completed his early schooling in Mysore.

In 1953-54, he donned the role of “Kadu Kuruba” during the annual day function and received the prize from the then king, Sri Jayachamaraja Wadiyar. This prompted him to join the art field. Shankar could not write SSLC examination due to extreme poverty and had to discontinue his studies. He worked as a daily wager for six months in Mysore State Electricity Board for just 14 annas per day. When he joined Railway Workshop, Mysoreit involved lot of physical strain. Shankar then joined a garadi ( gymnasium).

After 1957 he concentrated more on drama and started a troupe “Bharani Kalavidaru,” staging a number of dramas including “Gadha Yudda”, “Yecchama Nayaka” , “Yelahanka Bhopala (Kempe Gowda)” and “Raja Gopichand”. 

He got his break in films when famous Kannada director, Hunsur Krishnamurthy offered him a small role of a villain in the movie Ratna Manjari. From then on, he never looked back and acted as villain and supporting actor in around 100 films.

‘HE WILL BE MISSED’

“The news is very sad. We were all upbeat about the budget when we learnt of his passing away.

The Chamber had planned on felicitating him during the Amruthamahotsava celebrations.  I have rarely come across a human being with so much compassion to human beings and animals. It is indeed sad that he had such a painful and unexpected death.”

Jayamala,
President KFCC

“The industry had lost a fine actor. It is very hard to digest this news”

Parvathamma Rajkumar, Film producer

“We have lost an adventurous producer. For me, the loss is personal as both of us come from Mysore.

S V Rajendra Singh Babu, Producer-director

Assembly Speaker Thippanna and State BJP president D V Sadananda Gowda have also expressed grief over the demise and recollected the late actor’s penchant for making adventure films, while promoting forest and wildlife conservation.  Home Minister Katta Subramanya Naidu described Shankar as an ‘Iron Man with a soft heart’ and paid tribute to his films on wildlife.