Saeed Jaffrey

saeed jaffrey, man, what a legend. born back in 1929 in maler kotla, punjab, he had that classic mix of brains and charm. he did his postgraduate in history at university of allahabad—so yeah, not just a pretty face—and then jumped headfirst into drama, founding his own english theatre company, unity theatre, in delhi during the '50s. he was juggling radio gigs too, working as radio director at all india radio, just casually being everywhere at once. theatre-wise, he was all over the place—shakespeare, wilde, tennessee williams, you name it. he even hit london’s royal academy of dramatic art, which is basically drama royalty, before snagging a fulbright scholarship and heading to the states for more study. guy just couldn’t stop learning. in 1957, he toured the u.s. with his company doing shakespeare, making him basically the first indian actor to pull that off. new york loved him too—he was active at the actors’ studio, and later made waves in british tv with his role in _gangsters_. stage, tv, film—he just kept showing up, acting with everyone from sean connery to michael caine and working with directors like satyajit ray and david lean. he even did a stint as the publicity director for the indian tourist office in the us. jaffrey’s accent, his dapper style, and that cheeky “my dear boy”—total trademarks. he could play the slick villain or the wise old dad with equal swagger. first asian to get british and canadian academy award nods, and even got the order of the british empire for drama. honestly, a complete icon.