Shammi Kapoor was an Indian film actor and director. He was a prominent lead actor in Hindi cinema from the Mid 1950s until the early 1970s and also made a debut in Tamil cinema with the 1992 blockbuster crime drama Amaran. He received the Filmfare Best Actor Award in 1968 for his performance in Brahmachari and Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor for Vidhaata in 1982.
He was given the name Shamsher Raj Kapoor at his birth in Bombay (now Mumbai) to film and theatre actor Prithviraj Kapoor and Ramsharni Kapoor. Shammi was the second of the three sons born to Prithviraj (the other two being Raj Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor, both successful Hindi Film actors). He was the first cousin of singer, Juggal Kishore Mehra, whose granddaughter is the actress-singer, Salma Agha. Thus, Shammi Kapoor is an uncle of Salma Agha.
Though born in Mumbai, he spent a major portion of his childhood in Calcutta (now Kolkata), where his father was involved with New Theatres Studios, acting in films. It was in Kolkata that he did his Montessori education and Kindergarten. After coming back to Bombay, he first went to St. Joseph's Convent (Wadala) and then, to Don Bosco School. He finished his matric schooling from New Era School at Hughes Road.
Kapoor had a short stint at Ramnarain Ruia College after which he joined his father's theatrical company Prithvi Theatres. He entered the cinema world in 1948, as a junior artiste, at a salary of Rs. 50 per month, stayed with Prithvi Theatres for the next four years, and collected his last paycheck of Rs. 300, in 1952. He made his debut in Hindi Films in the year 1953, when the film Jeewan Jyoti was released. It was directed by Mahesh Kaul and Chand Usmani was Kapoor's first heroine. He was in a relationship with Nadia Gamal, a belly dancer from Cairo and Egyptian actress, from 1953–55 after they met in Sri Lanka on an occasion while he was on a holiday trip, but their relationship ended when she moved back to Cairo.
(source: Wikipedia)