Gita Dey was a well-known actress in Bengali

Bengali cinema

Bengali cinema refers to the Bengali language filmmaking industries in the Bengal region of South Asia. There are two major film-making hubs in the region: one in Kolkata, West Bengal, India and the other in Dhaka, Bangladesh .The history of cinema in Bengal dates back to the 1890s, when the first...

 film, theatre and Bengali folk theatre. She acted in over two hundred Bengali language films and over two thousand stage shows.

Early life

She started as an actress in the Bengali film industry

Cinema of West Bengal

The cinema of West Bengal refers to the Tollygunge-based Bengali film industry in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The origins of the nickname Tollywood, a portmanteau of the words Tollygunge and Hollywood, dates back to 1932...

 based in Kolkata's Tollygunge

Tollygunge

Tollygunge is a locality of South Kolkata. It is flanked by the Eastern Railway south suburban line to the north, Lake Gardens and Golf Green in the east, the Pashchim & Purba Putiaries in the south, and Behala in the west.-History:...

 since 1938. Her first role was as a child artiste when she was six years old in a film directed by Dhiren Ganguly.

Later career

She has been associated with All India Radio

All India Radio

All India Radio , officially known since 1956 as Akashvani , is the radio broadcaster of India and a division of Prasar Bharati. Established in 1936, it is the sister service of Prasar Bharati's Doordarshan, the national television broadcaster. All India Radio is one of the largest radio networks...

 since 1954, and enacted character roles in radio plays. However, her last play was Badsahi Chaal (1996), which was directed by Ganesh Mukherjee, and was staged at the Rangana theatre in north Kolkata.

She acted diverse roles in a wide variety of films, and is known for her versatile outlook in her many roles. Her acting even caught the attention of the legendary Laurence Olivier

Laurence Olivier

Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...

.

Proficient in both negative and comic roles, Dey was brilliant in the role of torn and scheming mother in Ritwik Ghatak's Meghe Dhaka Tara

Meghe Dhaka Tara

Meghe Dhaka Tara is a 1960 film by written and director Ritwik Ghatak, based on a novel Shaktipada Rajguru. It stars Supriya Choudhury, Anil Chatterjee, Gita Dey, Bijan Bhattacharya, Niranjan Roy, and Gyanesh Mukherjee...

.

Throughout her long career, she worked with directors like Sisir Bhaduri

Sisir Bhaduri

Shishir Kumar Bhaduri or Sisir Kumar Bhaduri stage actor and theatre founder, was born on at Ramrajatala in Howrah district in West Bengal. He passed the Entrance examination in 1905 from Bangabashi School, graduated in arts from Scottish Church College in 1910, and did his MA in English...

, Ritwik Ghatak, Debaki Bose

Debaki Bose

Debaki Bose , also known as Debaki Kumar Bose, was a top director, writer, actor of Bengali cinema/Indian cinema. He was born on 25 November 1898 in Akalpoush, Burdwan, Bengal, British India. He died on 17 November 1971 in Calcutta, West Bengal, India. He is known for his innovative use of sound...

 and Satyajit Ray

Satyajit Ray

Satyajit Ray was an Indian Bengali filmmaker. He is regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema. Ray was born in the city of Kolkata into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature...

. She also acted in a Bollywood

Bollywood

Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...

 musical based on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's Parineeta

Parineeta (2005 film)

Parineeta is a Bollywood musical film adaptation of the 1914 Bengali novella, Parineeta by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. Directed by debutant Pradeep Sarkar, the film was based upon a screenplay by the film's producer, Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The film featured Vidya Balan, Saif Ali Khan and Sanjay Dutt...

, starring Saif Ali Khan

Saif Ali Khan

Saif Ali Khan is an Indian actor known for his work in Bollywood films. He is the son of the late former Nawab of Pataudi, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, and actress Sharmila Tagore. He has two sisters: Saba Ali Khan and actress Soha Ali Khan....

 and Vidya Balan

Vidya Balan

Vidya Balan is an Indian actress, who appears in Hindi films. After graduating with a degree in sociology, she started her career starring in music videos, television shows and commercials, before appearing in feature films....

.

Though ailing, she went on acting and won applause in recent films like Tolly Lights

Tolly Lights

Tolly Lights is a Bengali film Directed by Arjun Chakraborty.A Film based on the Novel "Rangeen Prithibi" by Suchitra Bhattacharya.-Plot:Sreelekha plays the role of a home-maker who falls into the glamour world of films by chance-Cast:...

and Chirodini Tumi Je Amar

Chirodini Tumi Je Amar

Chirodini... Tumi Je Aamar is a Bengali film by Raj Chakraborty, one of the most revered directors of Zee Bangla TV show Mirakkel hosted by anchor Mir and Dance Bangla Dance and judged by Mithun Chakraborty. The film was inspired by the Balaji Sakthivel directed Tamil film Kaadhal...

.

Dey died on 17 January 2011 in Kolkata, aged 79.

Filmography

• Meghe Dhaka Tara
  Meghe Dhaka Tara
  Meghe Dhaka Tara is a 1960 film by written and director Ritwik Ghatak, based on a novel Shaktipada Rajguru. It stars Supriya Choudhury, Anil Chatterjee, Gita Dey, Bijan Bhattacharya, Niranjan Roy, and Gyanesh Mukherjee...
  
  
• Teen Kanya
  Teen Kanya
  Teen Kanya is a 1961 film directed by Satyajit Ray, and based upon short stories by Rabindranath Tagore.The title means "Three Daughters", and the film's original Indian release contained three stories. However, the international release of the film contained only two stories, missing out the second...
  
  
• Saat Paake Bandha
• Nauka Dubi
• Malyadaan,
• Abhaya o Srikanta
• Jaya
• Nishipada
• Dui Bhai
• Ahoban
• Barnochora
• Pita Putro
• Mouchak
• Tolly Lights
  Tolly Lights
  Tolly Lights is a Bengali film Directed by Arjun Chakraborty.A Film based on the Novel "Rangeen Prithibi" by Suchitra Bhattacharya.-Plot:Sreelekha plays the role of a home-maker who falls into the glamour world of films by chance-Cast:...
  
  
• Chirodini Tumi Je Amar
  Chirodini Tumi Je Amar
  Chirodini... Tumi Je Aamar is a Bengali film by Raj Chakraborty, one of the most revered directors of Zee Bangla TV show Mirakkel hosted by anchor Mir and Dance Bangla Dance and judged by Mithun Chakraborty. The film was inspired by the Balaji Sakthivel directed Tamil film Kaadhal...
  
  
• Kathavasheshan
  Kathavasheshan
  Kathavasheshan is a 2004 Malayalam film written and directed by T. V. Chandran, starring Dileep and Jyothirmayi in the lead roles. Veteran Bengali actress Gita Dey made a special appearance.-Plot:...
  
   (Malayalam)

Awards

For her lifetime contributions to Bengali cinema, in 1998 she received a star medal from the University of Calcutta

University of Calcutta

The University of Calcutta is a public university located in the city of Kolkata , India, founded on 24 January 1857...

 from the then Governor of West Bengal

Governor of West Bengal

The Governor of West Bengal is a nominal head and representative of the President of India in the state of West Bengal. The Governor is appointed by the President for a term of five years. H.E. Mayankote Kelath Narayanan is the current governor...

 Saiyid Nurul Hasan

Saiyid Nurul Hasan

Saiyid Nurul Hasan was a historian of medieval India, a prolific author, a statesman in the Government of India, and governor of Bengal and Orissa.-Background:...

.