Rashid Karapiet

Rashid Karapiet was born and grew up in India, before coming to England in the 1950s to train at the Bristol Old Vic, and later study teacher-training at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.

He appeared as Das in A Passage to India in 1984, the film adaptation of the E.M. Forster novel - one of his first roles was to appear in the stage adaption in 1960 (noted as one of the first times a leading role in the West End was undertaken by a non-Caucasian actor). Other film-work included Paris by Night, Foreign Body, Such a Long Jounrney, the UN Secretary General in Water, and in last year's Quartet. Theatre roles included Andrew Lloyd Webber's Bombay Dreams and Tom Stoppard's Indian Ink. 

On television, as well as The God Complex he appeared in a variety of programmes including Auf Wiedersehn Pet, The Jewel in the Crown, The Bill, Mrs Merton and Malcolm, Doctors, Hustle, The Kumars at No 42, Family Affairs, New Tricks, and Casualty.

He was an accomplished linguist, and taught in both Germany and the Netherlands, and a regular on All India Radio and in BBC radio dramas. He also wrote plays, and made public perfomances, his last being in aid of the Bhopal disaster last year. He was also quite active in social networking, especially with Twitter, with some of his final observations being upon the police "theft" of dead childrens' identities.

Rashid lived in Brighton, where he passed away in April 2013, and is survived by his brother Edward.
Obituaries : Guardian (1st May 2013)