Yesteryear Tamil actor Ravichandran died on Monday at a private hospital in Chennai, where he was being treated for a lung infection. Doctors said he did not respond to treatment and his condition had deteriorated over the last two days. He was on a life support system.

The last film of the 71-year-old actor was 'Aadu Puli', which has Aadhi in the lead role. He is survived by his wife Vimala, daughter Lavanya and sons Balaji and Hamsavardhan. He was earlier married to Malayalam actor Sheela.

Ravichandran, who began his career with the film 'Kaadhalikka Neramillai' back in 1964, had played many lead roles in the Tamil movies of 1960s and 1970s. He had a long career in films and had many hits like 'Gauri Kalyanam', 'Naan' and 'Moondrezhuthu'.

Ravichandran also worked alongside Superstar Rajinikanth in 'Arunachalam' in the late 1990s and with Kamal Haasan in Pammal K Sambandham in the early 2000s. In 2005, he stepped into film direction, launching his son Hamsavardhan.