Veteran Malayalam actress Kozhikode Sarada passed away at Kozhikode on Tuesday, film industry sources said. She was ailing for a while and she breathed her last at the very same hospital where she worked as a nursing assistant. She made her acting career through the stage and it was in 1979 that she made her debut in Malayalam films through ‘Ankakuri’. She was also busy in the television industry in Thiruvananthapuram.

In her career spanning close to four decades, she donned the greasepaint in around 90 films, often playing the role of a mother and side characters. Kerala’s Minister for Films and Culture Saji Cherian condoled the death of Sarada and said she was a very strong actress who was seen in roles she played and she is going to be missed.

Her last rites would be held at her home town near Kozhikode on Tuesday.