CHENNAI: Five-time National Award-winning art director P. Krishnamoorthy (77) passed away in Chennai on Sunday night. He has worked in more than 55 films in Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Sanskrit and English. He has won three national awards for art direction and two for costume design.

He is also a recipient of 5 Kerala state awards, Tamil Nadu state award and Kalaimamani award. His first Malayalam film was 'Swathi Thirunal'. Later, he worked in more than fifteen Malayalam films including 'Vaishali', 'Oru Vadakkan Veera Gadha', 'Perunthachan', 'Rajashilpi', 'Parinayam', 'Ghazal', 'Kulam', 'Vachanam' and 'Oliyampukal'.

Born in Poombuhar near Thanjavur, Krishnamurthy made his film debut in 1975 with GV Iyer's Kannada film 'Hamsa Geetha'. He won a gold medal from the Madras School of Arts. Krishnamoorthy is survived by wife Rajalakshmi.