Kumar Pallana

Kumar Valavhadas Pallana (23 December 1918 – 10 October 2013) was an Indian-American character actor. He performed on television on the Mickey Mouse Club, The Ed Sullivan Show, and You Asked for It as a plate spinner and juggler. He is best known for playing significant characters in Wes Anderson's first three movies: Bottle Rocket (1996), Rushmore (1998) and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001). He also acted in Steven Spielberg's The Terminal (2004).

Pallana moved to the United States in 1946 and spent 20 years performing around the country before settling down in Texas at his wife's insistence, and started a yoga studio.

Pallana was married to Ranjana Jethwa and had two children, son Dipak and daughter Sandhya. His son Dipak created, owned, and operated a cafe called the Cosmic Cup (now Cosmic Cafe) in Dallas, where Kumar met director Wes Anderson and actor Owen Wilson. Anderson subsequently cast Pallana in his films Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, and The Darjeeling Limited. Pallana also appeared in the Bollywood movie Anjaana Anjaani (2010) and the acclaimed independent film Another Earth (2011). A short documentary, KUMAR:MKE, about Pallana's connection to the Milwaukee film scene, was released in 2015.

Pallana's daughter Sandhya Pallana worked with him on The Terminal and other productions. His son Dipak, also an actor, appeared in Anderson's films such as Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, and The Royal Tenenbaums.

Pallana died on 10 October 2013 at his home in Oakland, California at age 94.