The 73-year-old actor died on Sunday following a severe heart attack in a private hospital in Pune. He is survived by his wife, three sons, daughters-in-law, grandchildren and an elder brother-cum-mentor-cum colleague, thespian Chandrakant, Mandhare's senior by 13 years.

If Mandhre's portrayal of historical characters in films like Ganimi Kava and Chhatrapati Shivaji won him accolades, his sensitive performances in films like Shikleli Bayko, Kanyadaan and Jyotibacha Navas were also highly acclaimed. Mandhre was considered to be the face of rural Marathi cinema and ruled the roost when rural Maharashtra was the preferred settingfor most Marathi films in the 1950s and early 1960s. His performances in runaway hits like Sangte Aika, Paunakathcha Dhondi, Punvechi Ratra, Pathcha Bhau, Sadhi Mansa, Mohityanchi Manjula, Rangapanchami and Amhi Jato Amchya Gava catapulted him to the top. The Suryakant Mandhre-Jayshree Gadkar pair is said to be the most successful in the Marathi film industry so far.

Filmdom in the beginning for Mandhre was more a source of livelihood than a conscious career choice. The first film he acted in, at the age of 12, was Dhruv (1938). However, the source of livelihood soon became a passion for him, and he went on to act in more than 110 films in his career spanning over five decades. He won the State Award for Best Acting in 1967 for his role in Malhari Martand.

Mandhre was a painter and author as well. His autobiography, Dhakti Paati penned in 1987 won the state literary award the same year. His book Vishwakarma won the Vinayak Damodar Savarkar Award, and another one,Kolhapuri Saaj, received a lot of appreciation. At the time of his passing, he was working on a book on the renowned Marathi singer Master Vinayak.

``I have lost a great friend. I remember that in the 50s, I was facing financial difficulties at the time of producing a Hindi film Ratnaghar. Suryakant then played the lead without charging a single rupee,'' said noted singer-composer-producer Sudhir Phadke. Mandhre's co-star Gadkar said he was her teacher, and she was shocked to learn of his death. ``I had worked with him on many projects and learnt a lot from him,'' she said.