Trivia

During a visit to the USA in 1962, he was named honorary mayor of Niagara City for a day and presented with a key to the city -- the only Indian besides Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to receive the honour.

One of his many awards (many for humanitarian activites), he received the Chevalier, the Order of Arts and Literature ('Chevalier dans ordre des Arts et Letters') by the Ministry of Culture, Government of France (it's highest civilian award), in 1995 for his contributions in the field of Arts and Literature in France and all over the world.

In 1976, Sivaji Ganesan was honoured with the Padma Shri and in 1984, Sivaji Ganesan was conferred the Padma Bhushan in recognition of his many contributions to cinema and philanthropy.

Was awarded Dadasaheb Phalke award by the Government of India for his outstanding contribution to Indian Cinema.

He could only estimate the number of films he appeared in - 170 to 300.

During a visit to the US in June 1995, Sivaji Ganesan found himself in Columbus, Ohio. Mayor Greg Lashutka named him honorary citizen of Columbus at a special dinner.

He was known for his versatility and the variety of roles he depicted on screen, which gave him also the Tamil nickname' Nadigar Thilagam' (the pride of actors).

Upon his death, The Los Angeles Times described him as "the Marlon Brando of south India's film industry".

In 1997, Ganesan was conferred the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest honour for films in India.

He Has Won Two National Film Award, Three Tamil Nadu State Film Award, One Nandi Award and Four Filmfare Award South respectively.

Ganesan was the first Indian actor to win a "Best Actor" award in an International film festival, the Afro-Asian Film Festival held in Cairo, Egypt in 1960.

In a career that spanned close to five decades, he had acted 288 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi.

Early in his career, Ganesan acted under the name V. C. Ganesan. Media outlets said that the initial 'V' stood for Villupuram, though one of Ganesan's sons stated that it stands for Vettaithidal, a village from which their family originates.

Sivaji Ganesan is acknowledged as one of the greatest Indian actors of all time and among the most imitated one by other actors.

A documentary Parasakthi Muthal Padayappa Varai was made to commemorate Sivaji Ganesan's legacy.

Although Sivaji appeared less in leading roles after the 1980s, his supporting roles were received positively, as in Thevar Magan, which won him the National Awards Jury's Special Jury award in 1993. Sivaji, incidentally, declined the award.

When President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt visited India, Sivaji Ganesan was the only individual granted permission by the then-Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, to host a party for Nasser.

He was given a State funeral. His funeral the next day was telecast live on Sun TV and was attended by thousands of viewers, politicians and personalities from the South Indian film fraternity.

Ganesan exhibited the ability to remember lengthy lines easily.

Without his father's consent, Ganesan decided to join a touring stage drama company at the age of seven.

Ganesan made his acting debut in the 1952 Tamil film Parasakthi, which was directed by the Krishnan-Panju duo and co-starred actress Pandari Bai. The film became an instant commercial success, running for over 175 days in several theatres, and ran for over 50 days in all the 62 centres it was released, and at the Sri Lanka-based Mailan Theatre, it ran for nearly 40 weeks.

He was trained in Bharatanatyam, Kathak and Manipuri dance forms.

Sivaji Ganesan was the first artist from India to visit the United States, in the cultural exchange programme of the US government, in 1962, invited by the then-US President John F. Kennedy, where he took the role of India's cultural ambassador.

His portrayal of Shivaji in the stage play Shivaji Kanda Hindu Rajyam earned him the monicker "Sivaji",[11] which was conferred on him at a public function presided over by social reformer Periyar. Since then, he was referred to by the name of "Sivaji".

On 1 October 2021, Google commemorated Ganesan's 93rd birth anniversary with a Google Doodle on their Indian homepage.

At the age of 10, he moved to Tiruchirappalli and joined a drama troupe in Sangiliyandapuram and began to perform in stage plays. From the drama troupe trainers, he was fortunate enough to learn acting and dancing.

He received an Honorary doctorate in 1986 from the Annamalai University.

Ganesan established a film production company in the late 1950s, now called Sivaji Productions, which is now being looked after by his elder son Ramkumar.

Ganesan is known for his versatility and has acted as a blind man in Palum Pazhamum, a physically handicapped person in Bhaaga Pirivinai, enacting Nine numbers of totally different personas from various social strata and the corresponding body language (gait, voice, facial expression, etc.) in " Navarathiri", thereby becoming probably the first-time in Indian cinema history as an actor reprising Nine roles in a single film and in extension, inspiring subsequent films (at least) in Tamil like "Navarathinam" (the great MGR - starred), "Dasavatharam" (featuring Sivaji's torch-bearer Kamal Haasan), a man with a scared face as in Deiva Magan, a murderer in Pudhiya Paravai, or a traitor as in Andha Naal, the first movie that had no songs at all.

Pondicherry (Puducherry) was the first state to erect a statue of Sivaji Ganesan in honour of his acting skills and his huge fan base in the state and it was unveiled by the then Puducherry Chief Minister N. Rangasamy.