Hyderabad, Dec 23 (IANS): Tollywood veteran Kaikala Satyanarayana died in the wee hours on Friday at his home in Filmnagar.

He was 87 and suffering from age-related ailments over the past several days.

Born on July 25, 1935 in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh, Satyanarayana debuted with Telugu movie 'Sipai Koothuru' in 1959.

Satyanarayana went on to act in around 800 movies in a career spanning six decades. Although he excelled as the quintessential bad man in the movies, he was also feted for his portrayal of mythological characters, especially Lord Yama, the Hindu god of death.

From NT Rama Rao, Nageswara Rao, Krishna to Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, Venkatesh, Balakrishna, and Prabhas, Allu Arjun, Satyanarayana acted alongside the entire gamut of Tollywood film stars spanning several generations. He last appeared in 2019 Mahesh Babu starrer 'Maharshi'.

Tollywood stars and personalities from all walks of life in the two Telugu states have condoled the death of Satyanarayana who was famed for his acting prowess and kind-heartedness.

He won Lok Sabha polls from Machilipatnam in 1996.

Family sources said that the Satyanarayana's last rites will be performed on Saturday.