Wikipedia:Today's featured list/January 15, 2018
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M. G. Ramachandran was well known for his career in Tamil language films. After starring in numerous commercially successful films from the 1950s to the early 1970s, he has continued to hold a matinée idol status in Tamil Nadu. Ramachandran made his debut in Ellis R. Dungan's 1936 film Sathi Leelavathi. In the 1950s, he established himself as an action hero akin to Errol Flynn and Douglas Fairbanks in Tamil cinema with Manthiri Kumari (1950), Marmayogi (1951), Malaikkallan (1954) and Nadodi Mannan (1958). All of these films had political undertones which earned Ramachandran a Robin Hood persona of being a champion for the downtrodden. The films he appeared in during the 1960s such as Enga Veettu Pillai (1965), Aayirathil Oruvan (1965) and Adimaippenn (1969) played a crucial part in his subsequent career as a politician. In 1971, Ramachandran received the National Film Award for Best Actor for his role as a cycle rickshaw driver in Rickshawkaran, making it the first film and him the first actor from South Indian cinema to win the award. Ramachandran retired from filmmaking in 1978 to take up his duties as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. (Full list...)