U. R. Jeevaratnam

U. R. Jeevarathinam யூ. ஆர். ஜீவரத்தினம்
U. R. Jeevarathinam in 1948 Tamil film Sri Andal
Born	Unjalur, Erode, Madras Presidency, British India
Died	26 July 2000 Mandaveli, Chennai, India
Occupation	Singer, Actress
Years active	1937 - 1956
Spouse(s)	T. S. Venkataswami

U. R. Jeevarathinam (Tamil: யூ. ஆர். ஜீவரத்தினம்) was a famous Tamil actress, singer, producer and playback singer. Most of her works are in Telugu and Tamil languages.

Born in Unjalur, Erode, Madras Presidency in British India to Subramaniam and Kunjammaal. She was very much interested in music right from the time of her school days and could sing very well also. K. S. Angamuthu, a very popular comedian of that time helped her to join the Krishna Drama Company at the age of 9. She had tutelage of carnatic music from Kailasa Bhagavathar and Kunnakkudi Venkatrama Iyer. She used to watch the acting style of everyone with attention.

When Salem Modern Theatres was founded, she joined as an artiste. She made her debut through the Modern Theatres maiden film Sathi Ahalya in 1937 at the age of ten. She appeared as a celestial lady from the heaven. She appeared in other films till 1941 when was offered a main role in Bhaktha Gowri. She was a good singer and the song 'Theruvil varaandi' was a testimony to her mellifluous voice.

She had acted in films such as Poompavai, Abhimanyu, Bhojan and Devakanya. In the film Kannagi she had acted as Kaunthi Adigal (An old Jain nun in the Tamil epic Silapathikaram). She was awarded the title Isai Kuyil (Nightingale Of Music) by Swami Dhinakar at the 100th day function of Kannagi held at Thiruvarur. She appeared in many Modern Theatres productions.

After marriage, they started a film production company Mercury Films. The first production was Pona Machan Thirumbi Vanthaan (1954) with Sriram and Kuchalakumari in the lead roles. The film earned a moderate profit. The second production was Vaazhvile Oru Naal (1956) with Sivaji Ganesan and G. Varalakshmi in the lead roles.

The third attempt was a film titled, Sirikkum Silai with MGR with the expectation of recovering the money that were lost in their previous films, but the production had to be given up within a few days of shooting. They tried a fourth attempt in the film Adichathu Yoham with Ravichandran which unfortunately had also to be shelved in the middle. They incurred heavy losses due to these two films.