Iconic Bollywood Actor Shammi Kapoor Dies at 79

An iconic Bollywood actor, Shammi Kapoor, died Sunday at age 79 from kidney failure at a hospital in Mumbai.

According to his son, Kapoor died at 5:15 a.m. on Sunday morning at Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai after being admitted to the hospital last week following years of complications. Kapoor will be cremated on Monday.

"He died a happy and fulfilled man despite health problems," son Aditya Raj Kapoor said to DNA India. "He had been on dialysis after his kidneys failed a few years ago."

Best known for his unrestrained, and at times flamboyant, dance moves, he was known as the dreamy romantic lead throughout the 1960s Bollywood films. DNA India cites him as the green-eyed Elvis Presley of Hindi cinema in India.

Kapoor became a legend in India after he sang a song entitled "Yahoo! in Junglee, which long predated the Internet company Yahoo. Following the 1961 musical, Kapoor became a youth icon and acquired his romantic lover boy persona.

Kapoor first debuted in 1953 in a film called Jeevan Jyoti and continued to star in such films as An Evening in Paris, Janwar, China Town and Kashmir Ki Kali.

He received the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005 at the Bollywood Movie Awards amongst other honors and awards.