Tom Alter

Thomas Beach Alter (22 June 1950 – 29 September 2017)^[1] was an Indian actor of American descent who worked in Indian cinema.^[2] He was best known for his works in Hindi cinema,^[3][4] and Indian theatre.^[5] In 2008, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India.^[6][7]

Early life

Born in Mussoorie in present-day Uttarakhand,^[8] Alter was the son of American Presbyterian missionaries of English, Scottish and Swiss German ancestry and lived for years in Mumbai and the Himalayan hill station of Landour. His grandparents migrated to Madras, India from Ohio, U.S., in November 1916.^[9] From there, they moved to and settled in Lahore, in present-day Pakistan. His father was born in Sialkot.^[9] After the Partition of India, Alter's family split into two; his grandparents chose to stay in Pakistan while his parents moved to India. After living in Allahabad, Jabalpur and Saharanpur, in 1954 they finally settled in Rajpur, Uttarakhand, then a small town located between Dehradun and Mussoorie; Rajpur is now considered a suburb of Dehradun. Alter's siblings are older sister Martha Chen, who teaches at Harvard University^[10] and brother John, a poet.^[3] Author Stephen Alter is a first cousin.

As a child, Alter studied Hindi among other subjects in Mussoorie's Woodstock School. At 18, Alter left for the U.S. for higher education and studied at Yale University for a year before returning to India upon losing interest in studies. The following year, he obtained work as a teacher at St. Thomas School, Jagadhri, in Haryana. He worked there for six months, simultaneously coaching his students in cricket. Over the next two and a half years, Alter worked several jobs, teaching for a while at Woodstock School, Mussoorie, and working at a hospital in the U.S., and returning to India before continuing to work at Jagadhri. At Jagadhri, he began to watch Hindi films.^[9] It was during this time that he saw the Hindi film Aradhana, which proved to be a turning point in his career and drifted towards a career in acting, inspired by the lead actor Rajesh Khanna.^[11] He headed to Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune, where he studied acting from 1972 to 1974 under Roshan Taneja.^[9]

Career

Film

After graduating from FTII, Alter headed straight to Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay) and soon got his first break in the Dev Anand starrer Saheb Bahadur (1977), directed by Chetan Anand. However, his first release was Ramanand Sagar's Charas. This was followed by roles in Des Pardes, Ram Bharose, Hum Kisise Kum Nahin and Parvarish. He dubbed for actor Jeevan for the innocent person of the twin roles played by Jeevan in the film Amar Akbar Anthony.

Alter was fluent in Hindi and Urdu, and was knowledgeable about Indian culture. He could also read Urdu and was fond of Shayari.^[9] He worked for noted filmmakers like Satyajit Ray in Shatranj Ke Khilari and is remembered for his role as a British officer in Kranti. He got the opportunity to act with his idol Rajesh Khanna in the film Naukri, directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee in 1978 and later in Chetan Anand's Kudrat. In Sardar, the 1993 film biography of Indian leader Sardar Patel, which focused on the events surrounding the partition and independence of India, Alter portrayed Lord Mountbatten of Burma.^[12] He also acted in the Hollywood movie One Night with the King with Peter O'Toole.

In 1996 he appeared in the Assamese film Adajya, and in 2007 acted in William Dalrymple's City of Djinns alongside Zohra Sehgal and Manish Joshi Bismil. He also appeared in the solo play Maulana and the film Ocean of An Old Man.

Alter played the role of a doctor in Bheja Fry, a comedy movie starring Rajat Kapoor.

In April 2011 he acted in a short film Yours, Maria directed by Chirag Vadgama, playing the lead role of Matthew Chacha in the movie.

Alter lent his voice for the authorized audio autobiography of Dr. Verghese Kurien, titled The Man Who Made The Elephant Dance, which was released in 2012.

Some of his most famous movie roles have been as Musa in Vidhu Vinod Chopra's acclaimed crime drama Parinda, Mahesh Bhatt's blockbuster romance Aashiqui, and Ketan Mehta's Sardar, in which Alter essayed the role of Lord Mountbatten.

His last film was Hamari Paltan (2018).^[13]

Television

Alter appeared in many Indian television series, including Samvidhaan.^{[citation needed]} In Zabaan Sambhalke he played the role of a British writer, Charles Spencers, who lives in India and wants to learn the Hindi language. He acted in the TV series Khamosh Sa Afsana (as a Husain Baba), telecast on Doordarshan in 2014–15. In November 2014, he played Sahir Ludhianvi in a stage production based on the life and work of the famous Urdu poet and film lyricist. He also played a schoolteacher in Yahan Ke Hum Sikandar.^[5] Alter has worked as the red robe guru in Mukesh Khanna's TV production Shaktimaan (1998–2002).^[14] Also, he appeared in Contiloe & Cinevistaas show Ssshhhh...Koi Hai in 2002–03. He played Indian characters in Indian television series, such as the long-running Junoon, in which he was the sadistic mob lord Keshav Kalsi.^[15] He anchored "Adabi Cocktail" in 2000 telecast on Urdu Television Network and interviewed Johny Walker, Naushad, TunTun, Hasan Kamaal, Adnan Sami, Jagdeep, Naqsh layalpuri and many more.^[12]

Theatre

In 1978, he, Naseeruddin Shah, and Benjamin Gilani formed a theatre group called Motley Productions.^[16] Their first play was Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot, which was staged at Prithvi Theatre, Bombay, on 29 July 1979. He went on to appear in many other plays at the theatre, including an adaptation of Vaikom Muhammad Basheer's My Grandad Had an Elephant which was performed on 7 June 2011. He has also worked with the New Delhi theatre group Pierrot's Troupe.^[5]

In the early 2000s, he played the Indian independence activist Maulana Azad in a one-man Urdu-language play.^[17]

In Ghalib In Delhi, he played the role of Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib.^[18]

He was the lead actor in "Once Upon A Time", a collection of five short stories presented as vignettes, directed by Sujata Soni Bali and co-starring prominent stage actor and TV personality Sunit Tandon. The production was last staged in Mumbai on 17 June 2017.

Writing and journalism

Alter has written books including The Longest Race, Rerun at Rialto, and The Best in the World.^[19] He was also a sports journalist with a special interest in cricket, a game on which he has written extensively in publications such as Sportsweek, Outlook, Cricket Talk, Sunday Observer, Firstpost, Citizen, and Debonair. Alter was the first to video interview Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar in 1988.^[20]

Alter played cricket for a film industry team MCC (Match Cut Club), which includes Naseeruddin Shah, Satish Shah, Vishal Bhardwaj, Aamir Khan, Nana Patekar, Bhupinder Singh and Amarinder Sangha.^[21]

In 1996, he was invited by friend Siraj Syed to Singapore, to do cricket commentary in Hindi, for Indian viewers, on the sports TV channel, ESPN.

Personal life

Alter married Carol Evans, a fellow Woodstock School student, in 1977. They had two children together.^[22]

Death

In September 2017, Alter was diagnosed with stage IV skin cancer (squamous cell carcinoma).^[23] His thumb had been amputated a year earlier because of the condition.^[24] He died on 29 September at his residence in Mumbai.^[25][26]

Filmography

Film

TV series

References

1. ^ "Actor Tom Alter Dies Of Cancer At 67". NDTV. 30 September 2017. Archived 30 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
2. ^ "Tom Alter (1950–2017): The on-screen 'firangi' who remained forever Indian". October 2017. Archived 1 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
3. ^ "No 'Alter'native". Screen. 9 May 2008. Archived 1 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine.
4. ^ Hazarika, Sanjoy (6 July 1989). "An American Star Of the Hindi Screen". The New York Times. Archived 6 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
5. ^ "Features / Metro Plus: Tom Tom". The Hindu. 9 August 2008. Archived 3 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
6. ^ "Multifaceted actor Tom Alter to receive Padma Shri". India eNews. 25 January 2008. Archived from the original on 25 February 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2010.
7. ^ "Woodstock School News". Woodstock School India. 2 January 2008. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011.
8. ^ "Tom Alter". Paritosh Uttam. Archived from the original on 22 May 2006. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
9. ^ Guftagoo with Tom Alter (in Hindi). Rajya Sabha TV. 23 August 2016. Archived 9 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
10. ^ "Curriculum Vitae of Marty Chen". Archived 25 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
11. ^ "A Haryana town friend recalls the night show that led Tom Alter the teacher to show biz". October 2017. Archived 1 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
12. ^ "Metro Plus Delhi / Personality : Tom, unaltered". The Hindu. Archived 11 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
13. ^ "Hamari Paltan: The last film of veteran actor, to release on April 27". United News of India. 23 April 2018. Archived 12 April 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
14. ^ "10 Beautiful Roles Tom Alter Fit Into Perfectly During His Film And Television Career" (in en-IN). MensXP. 2017-10-02. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
15. ^ Padnani, Amisha (2017-10-06). "Tom Alter, Blue-Eyed Star of Bollywood Films, Dies at 67". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
16. ^ "When I met Tom Beach Alter". www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
17. ^ Padnani, Amisha (6 October 2017). "Tom Alter, Blue-Eyed Star of Bollywood Films, Dies at 67". The New York Times
18. ^ "Actor Tom Alter as Mirza Ghalib". Little Black Book. Archived 15 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
19. ^ "Veteran actor Tom Alter dies at 67". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
20. ^ Chandawarkar, Rahul (28 August 2005). "Telling a story in different ways". The Hindu. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
21. ^ Veena (2017-09-30). "Tom Alter: A greater performer than Bollywood's dependable 'firang'". NRI Pulse. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
22. ^ "Tom Alter". The Times of India. 30 April 2012. Archived 15 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
23. ^ "Tom Alter diagnosed with skin cancer". The Hindu. 11 September 2017. Archived 13 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
24. ^ "Tom Alter Battling Stage 4 Skin Cancer, Confirms Son Jamie". NDTV. 11 September 2017. Archived 1 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
25. ^ "Actor Tom Alter dies of skin cancer at 67". Hindustan Times. 30 September 2017. Archived 30 March 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
26. ^ "Tom Alter, Padma Shri actor and writer, dies aged 67". Times of India. 30 September 2017. Archived 14 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
27. ^ "Tom's encounters with icons who Altered his life". The Times of India. 2012-11-14. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
28. ^ "IFFK: Seven films in 'Indian Cinema Now' section". www.business-standard.com. 2012-11-06. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
29. ^ "Welcome : Daptar the Movie". Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
30. ^ "IFFK to screen seven films in 'Indian Cinema Now' section". The Indian Express. 2014-11-04. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
31. ^ "Latest Entertainment News: Celebrity News, Latest News on TV Reality Shows, Breaking News & Trending Stories". Archived 11 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 13 May 2016.

External links

• Tom Alter at IMDb