Character actor Kumar Pallana dead in Calif. at 94
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Kumar Pallana, an Indian character actor with bit parts in movies such as "The Terminal" and "The Royal Tennenbaums," has died. He was 94.
His son, Dipak Pallana, told the Los Angeles Times (http://lat.ms/1aqndO1) that Kumar Pallana collapsed Oct. 10 at the Oakland, Calif., home they shared while getting ready to play bridge with friends.
The Times reported that Kumar Pallana was a yoga instructor in Dallas when in the mid-1990s he met Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson, who were working on their breakout movie "Bottle Rocket." They cast Pallana as a bumbling safe cracker.
His thick accent and diminutive stature would go on to help him steal scenes and earn parts in more films, including three more directed by Anderson and one by Steven Spielberg.
