Rex Kodippili

Rex Joseph Kodippili was born on 6 October 1938 in Badulla, Sri Lanka as the youngest of the family. His father Don Henry Kodippili was a surveyor.^[5] His mother was Ethan Kodippili. His father died when he was 18 months old in a flood that occurred in Trincomalee district. Along with his two brothers, he was raised by his mother.^[6] He along with his two brothers completed education from St. Bede's College. Badulla.^[5] Though his brothers left the school early, Rex was boarded at the school. After Ordinary Level, he attended Sri Siddhartha Central College, Badulla.^[5]

After completing school life, he joined the police department. In 1958, he came to Colombo with the job. At the Apprentice Passing Out Ceremony, Rex finished second out of four hundred soldiers. He served for five years in the police department and departed in 1961. While in the military, he boxed, swam and was the leader of the first swimming team of the military police. Kodippili was a physical training instructor in the Military Police.^[6] He was then employed as a manager at the Marina Café and Hotel at Pettah, before becoming the manager at Salaka.^[2]

Kodippili was married to Katherine where he met on a marriage proposal.^{[clarification needed]} The couple had two daughters, Roshanthi and Sureka, and one son, Prasanna.^[7] His wife Katherine died in 2016.

Rex Kodippili died on 24 December 2023, at the age of 85.^[8]

According to him, he was much better at singing than acting. A gifted singer, he was popularly known as 'Badulla Mohideen Beg' in the Badulla area.^[9] He started singing when he was little, and also won second place in the grand final of the 'Adunika Peya' programme of the late 1950s radio commercial service where he received an award from the hands of the late prime minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike at the age of seven.^[5] He joined a drama circle named as "Rohana Dramatic Society" while at the Siddhartha College.^[5] They performed about five stage dramas including Maraka Daivaya and Sangeetha Pissa. After his five-year police service, he Joined the "Adunika Peya" of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. In that competition, he won second place and Nanda Malini won first place. Then he got involved in programmes like Nevum Mihira as well as recording around five solo tracks.^[2]

While working at the Hotel Salaka, he became friends with Oswald Jayasinghe and Dommie Jayawardena.^[6] In 1969, while he was dropping Jayasinghe off at a film location in Nugegoda, the film's director, K. A. W. Perera, approached him and cast him in the role of a pick-pocket in the film Kathuru Muwath.^[6] In the meantime, he had the opportunity to do "double" roles in action scenes for the lead actors in movie fight scenes including stunt double for Senadheera Rupasinghe in the film Hathara Denama Soorayo. In 1972, he appeared in the film Lokuma Hinawa directed by K. A. W. During a stunt in the film, he broke his leg and was hospitalised for nine months.^[6][9]

However in 1973, he joined another stunt role in the film Aparadaya Saha Danduwama. In the film, Oswald Jayasinghe and Rex had a deadly fight where the scene was filmed on a big rock on Maligathenna hill. He fell to the ground with a quick blow from Oswald. As he was falling from the hill, he was lucky enough to hanging from a tree branch. The branch shattered into a pile of glass^{[clarification needed]} on the ground. Later, he was hospitalised with serious injuries and rested for three weeks.^[9] In the 1974 film Onna Babo Billo Enavo, he had a stunt scene where he climbed a helicopter with difficulty and fought with Gamini Fonseka. In the following years, he appeared in several action films such as Duppathage Hithawatha, Kalyani Ganga and Maruwa Samaga Wase.^[2]

In 1976, he made his first romantic role with the film Lassana Dawadak. Then he moved to more dramatic roles than action stunt roles. Some of his most notable character roles came through the characters such as: 'Kadira' in the film Muwan Pelessa, 'Daanu' in the film Raktha, 'Ratne Ayya' in the film Sagarika and 'Sergeant Silva' in the film Koti Waligaya.^[9] In 1987, he won the merit award at the 1987 Sarasaviya Awards for his performance in the film Koti Waligaya.^[2]

In 1982, he became a producer with the film Bicycale. In the film, he was also the screenwriter. The theme of the film is boxing, which had never been discussed in a movie.^[2] He acted in the teleplay titled Gini avi saha Gini keli which was aired on TV Derana.^[10]