Report by Mehr News Agency; photos by Mehdi Ghasemi, ISNA

The funeral procession for Iranian actress Niku Kheradmand was held on Thursday in front of Iran's House of Cinema in Tehran. She was buried in the artists' section of Tehran's Behesht-e Zahra Cemetery.

An actress and film dubber, Kheradmand died Tuesday morning in a Tehran hospital. She was 77. Kheradmand was suffering in the aftermath of a heart attack she experienced several months ago.  She was last seen at the 13th Iran Cinema Celebration in September. She was too weak to walk by herself and was accompanied on stage by actress Roya Teimurian.



Niku Kheradmand was born in 1932 and began her career in radio in 1958, and two years later she began her dubbing career. She started her acting in cinema with the movie "The Last Act" by Varuj Karim-Masihi which brought her the best Supporting Actress Crystal Simorgh at the 9th edition of the Fajr Film Festival.

She was awarded another best Supporting Actress Crystal Simorgh at the 12th edition of the festival for her role in "The Plaything" by Turaj Mansuri.

Her remarkable role in the TV series "Thieves of the Grandmother" will never be forgotten.

Kheradmand was inactive for several years and then returned to the 24th Fajr festival with "Havana Dossier" (Alireza Raiisian), "Cafe Setareh" (Saman Moqaddam), and "How Much Do You Want to Cry" (Shahed Ahmadlu).
 

Filmmaker Mehdi Sabbaghzadeh had once regarded Kheradmand as the mother of Iran's cinema. "She was such a great actress in that respect. She had the potential and characteristics of a tremendous actress."  Raiisian also noted that Kheradmand was an actress with a strong voice and a dramatic stage presence and these two characteristics are rarely found together in one person.

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