Veteran artiste Datin Umi Kalthum passes away

"My mother did not have any ailments and was still active. We realised that she had passed away in her sleep when we tried to wake her up for sahur about 4.30 am," her daughter Noorkumalasari, 57, told Bernama.

"I last saw her two days ago when I took her some food and we chatted as usual," she added.

She said the late Umi Kalthum's remains would be laid to rest at the Klang Gate Muslim Cemetary at Hulu Klang, near here before the Zohor prayers.

She leaves behind eight children, four boys and four girls; 22 grandchildren and a great grandchild from her marriage with the late actor Roomai Noor.

Umi Kalthum's real name was Patimah Bahudin and she had acted in more than 20 movies among them famous Malay classics such as 'Bawang Putih Bawang Merah', 'Raden Mas', 'Laila Majnun', 'Menanti Hari Esok' and 'Syukur 21'.

Meanwhile, her fellow artiste Rosnani Jamil, 77, said it was a great sorrow that she could not break fast with her good friend as planned on Aug 3.

"We had planned to break fast at the Finas (National Film Development Corporation) building, organised by the Veteran Artistes Welfare Association. But it's fate that Allah has taken her back first," she said.

Meanwhile, veteran actor Datuk Aziz Satar, 88, said he first met her in Singapore in 1956 and had always kept in touch.

"We never lost touch. She had a good sense of humour and I used to tease her whenever we met," he said.