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1-50 of 173
- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Known for his creative stage direction, Elia Kazan was born Elias Kazantzoglou on September 7, 1909 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire (now Istanbul, Turkey). Noted for drawing out the best dramatic performances from his actors, he directed 21 actors to Oscar nominations, resulting in nine wins. He directed a string of successful films, including A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), On the Waterfront (1954), and East of Eden (1955). During his career, he won two Oscars as Best Director and received an Honorary Oscar, won three Tony Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards.
His films were concerned with personal or social issues of special concern to him. Kazan writes, "I don't move unless I have some empathy with the basic theme." His first such "issue" film was Gentleman's Agreement (1947), with Gregory Peck, which dealt with anti-Semitism in America. It received 8 Oscar nominations and three wins, including Kazan's first for Best Director. It was followed by Pinky (1949), one of the first films in mainstream Hollywood to address racial prejudice against black people. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), an adaptation of the stage play which he had also directed, received 12 Oscar nominations, winning four, and was Marlon Brando's breakthrough role. In 1954, he directed On the Waterfront (1954), a film about union corruption on the New York harbor waterfront. In 1955, he directed John Steinbeck's East of Eden (1955), which introduced James Dean to movie audiences.
A turning point in Kazan's career came with his testimony as a witness before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1952 at the time of the Hollywood blacklist, which brought him strong negative reactions from many liberal friends and colleagues. His testimony helped end the careers of former acting colleagues Morris Carnovsky and Art Smith, along with ending the work of playwright Clifford Odets. Kazan later justified his act by saying he took "only the more tolerable of two alternatives that were either way painful and wrong." Nearly a half-century later, his anti-Communist testimony continued to cause controversy. When Kazan was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1999, dozens of actors chose not to applaud as 250 demonstrators picketed the event.
Kazan influenced the films of the 1950s and 1960s with his provocative, issue-driven subjects. Director Stanley Kubrick called him, "without question, the best director we have in America, and capable of performing miracles with the actors he uses." On September 28, 2003, Elia Kazan died at age 94 of natural causes at his apartment in Manhattan, New York City. Martin Scorsese co-directed the documentary film A Letter to Elia (2010) as a personal tribute to Kazan.- Director
- Writer
- Actor
Henri Verneuil was born on 15 October 1920 in Rodosto, Ottoman Empire [now Tekirdag, Turkey]. He was a director and writer, known for I... For Icarus (1979), The Sheep Has Five Legs (1954) and Mother (1991). He was married to Françoise Bonnot and Véronique Sedro. He died on 11 January 2002 in Bagnolet, Seine-Saint-Denis, France.- Steve Plytas was born on 9 January 1913 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey]. He was an actor, known for Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987), Batman (1989) and The Young Lady from London (1959). He was married to Amy Doris Foxell. He died on 27 December 1994 in Surrey, England, UK.
- Aristole Onassis was an ethnic Greek born in Smyrna in the Ottoman Empire in what is now Turkey, who became a billionaire shipping tycoon when the number of billionaires could be counted on one hand. He is known to history as the second husband of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy.
He was the son of Socrates Onassis, a ship owner with a modest fleet of 10 ships manned by 40 sailors. The relative wealth of his father got the young Ari a good education, and he became fluent in English, Spanish and Turkish. In the aftermath of World War One, when the Ottoman Empire was broken up by the victorious Allies and modern Turkey was created by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, many ethnic Greeks were expelled from the new country. The Onassis family fled to Greece as refugees.
Aristotle Onassis emigrated to Argentina in 1923 with 60 dollars (approximately $800 in 2011 dollars, when factored for inflation). He became an importer of Turkish tobacco and eventually became an owner of ships. Eventually, he held Argentine and Greek passports and dual citizenship.
Onassis switched to transporting oil for the major petroleum companies, who could save money by not owning their own fleets. It was the introduction of the supertanker to transport Middle Eastern oil that made Onassis one of the richest men in the world. A supertanker could be paid for with one six-month lease, meaning that the majority of the 20-year life-span of a tanker could result in extraordinary profits. Onassis invested his vast fortune wisely, including in the petroleum industry itself, transportation, and other businesses.
Outside of the business world, Aristole Onassis was little known, and if he was known at all, it was for his romance with the opera singer Maria Callas. However, his 1968 marriage to the widow of the late President John F. Kennedy made him a world-wide figure whose life was chronicled in newspapers around the globe. - Actress
- Soundtrack
Alice Sapritch was unattractive and she knew it for a fact. She nevertheless decided to become an actress, aware that she would never be the love interest of the handsome hero or play the blushing ingénue. That's the reason why she set about emphasizing her lack of glamor instead of concealing it. In these conditions, two main categories were available to her, either obnoxious monsters (Folcoche in TV made 'Vipère au poing') or foolish eccentrics (the crazy actress in 'L'événement le plus important depuis que l'homme a marché sur la lune'). In 1971, with 'La folie des grandeurs', Gérard Oury gave her the opportunity to combine monstrosity and ridicule in a single character, the duenna of the Queen of Spain who, although as ugly as sin, indulges in what may well be the most comical striptease ever filmed. Unforgettable! And not being a beauty queen also happened to be an advantage. Didn't she play Hamlet's mother at the age of twenty-three? And when she was older, the beauty factor having become irrelevant, she was able to embody the poignant 'Mère russe' (Russian Mother) in the TV film of the same title. The real trouble is her film career for, in spite of one or two satisfying roles, she appeared in an endless series of particularly inept vulgar French 'comedies'. By her own admission, she would have dreamed of being directed by Bergman, Schlöndorff or Herzog and she wound up working for Philippe Clair, Michel Gérard, Jean Luret and co! Of course there were a few exceptions to this rule, for instance when she played Aunt Elizabeth in Téchiné's 1978 'Les soeurs Brontë' and a few appearances in good quality films at the beginning of her career but all in all her performances on the silver screen are a real disappointment compared with what she did on TV and on the boards.- Writer
- Actor
A.I. Bezzerides was born on 9 August 1908 in Samsun, Ottoman Empire [now Turkey]. He was a writer and actor, known for Kiss Me Deadly (1955), Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953) and They Drive by Night (1940). He was married to Von Gorne, Yvonne and Silvia Richards. He died on 1 January 2007 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Make-Up Department
- Director
Aram Katcher was born on 5 July 1921 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey]. He was an actor and director, known for The Girl in the Kremlin (1957), The Right Hand of the Devil (1963) and The Female Animal (1958). He died on 20 April 1998 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Director
Vahi Öz was born on 3 November 1911 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey]. He was an actor and director, known for Kan kardesler (1952), Haci Baba (1965) and Çalikusu (1966). He was married to Jale Öz. He died on 12 February 1969 in Istanbul, Turkey.- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Darío Moreno was born on 3 April 1921 in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire [now Izmir, Turkey]. He was an actor, known for The Wages of Fear (1953), Kill Me Gently (1967) and Le Bal (1983). He died on 1 December 1968 in Istanbul, Turkey.- Feridun Çölgeçen was born on 10 May 1911 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey]. He was an actor, known for Kilink uçan adama karsi (1967), Süt Kardesler (1976) and Daglari Bekleyen Kiz (1955). He died on 19 January 1978 in Istanbul, Turkey.
- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Kenan Pars was born on 10 March 1920 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey]. He was an actor and producer, known for Oglum (1961), Bir atesim yanarim (1966) and Cinayet gecesi (1963). He died on 10 March 2008 in Istanbul, Turkey.- Director
- Writer
- Actor
Seyfi Havaeri was born on 18 July 1920 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey]. He was a director and writer, known for Gönülden yaralilar (1949), Aci sevda (1958) and Hüküm sabahi (1952). He died on 24 January 2009 in Istanbul, Turkey.- Producer
- Director
- Actor
Turkish football player, film director, actor, editor, screenwriter, producer, lecturer and Honorary Professor.
He graduated from Vefa Lisesi in 1937. In 1938, he dropped out of Istanbul University Faculty of Medicine in the third year of his education.
Ün changed the language of cinema by going beyond the melodrama mould with the film Üc Arkadas in 1958. The film was considered one of the best films of Turkish cinema. Thanks to his success in this film, he was invited to the Film Friends Association and became one of the important directors of Turkish cinema. During this period, he started to live with Fatma Girik and the couple's relationship continued for life.
In 1960, he started the era of child stars in Turkish cinema history with the film Aysecik. After his success with Aysecik, his partnership with Arsavir Alyanak at Yakut Film ended and he founded Ugur Film.
In 1990, he made his first self-financed film, Tüm Kapilar Kapaliydi, in which he turned to a subject and cinematography not seen in his previous films. This was followed by the films Gün Ortasinda Karanlik and Zikkimin Kökü, which received many awards. The last film he directed was Sinema Bir Mucizedir (2005), but due to his illness he could not complete the film and handed it over to Tunc Basaran.
He worked as a lecturer at Mimar Sinan University Cinema-TV Department.
Film worker Memduh Ün died on 16 October 2015 at the age of 95 in Bodrum where he was being treated.- Ulvi Uraz was born on 13 February 1921 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey]. He was an actor, known for Yarin Bizimdir (1963), Disi kurt (1963) and Sehvet Uçurumlari (1962). He died on 25 May 1974 in Istanbul, Turkey.
- Director
- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Vassilis Georgiadis was a Greek director, film producer and actor. Two of Georgiadis's films, "The Red Lanterns" and "Blood on the Land", were nominated by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the final five for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Also in 1970 his film "Girls in the Sun" was nominated by the Foreign Correspondents' Association in Los Angeles for a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film.- Osman Yusuf was born on 23 May 1920 in Ottoman Empire [now Turkey]. He was an actor, known for King Kong vs. Godzilla (1963), Submersion of Japan (1973) and Mothra (1961). He died on 29 August 1982 in Japan.
- Ertugrul Bilda was born on 22 January 1915 in Çanakkale, Ottoman Empire [now Turkey]. He was an actor, known for The King of the Street Cleaners (1977), The Chaos Class Is on Vacation (1978) and The Chaos Class Is Waking Up (1976). He died in 1993 in Istanbul, Turkey.
- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Muzaffer Tema was born on 15 June 1919 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey]. He was an actor and producer, known for Vahsi kedi (1962), 11 Uhr 20 (1970) and Disi yilan (1956). He was married to Ayten Çankaya. He died on 4 October 2011 in Çesme, Turkey.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Lank and plain-looking, poker-faced and a bit starchy but looking all the more mysterious for that, Margo Lion will forever remain Jenny, the "brothel queen', in Pabst's adaptation of Bertold Brecht and Kurt Weill's immortal 'Dreigroschen Oper', singing their unforgettable song 'La fiancée du pirate'. A great film debut for this French actress born in Istanbul, who was then a successful cabaret performer in Berlin. And yet, although she was kept very busy working for the cinema and later on for television, Margo Lion never became an idol or a star or even a leading lady. On the other hand, she worked with talented directors (Carné, Chenal, Duvivier, Pabst as well as creators of the next generation such as Demy, Chabrol or Franju) and proved how versatile and talented a character actress she was. She could indeed play any type of role: a prostitute ('L'alibi') or a nun ('Le dialogue des carmélites'), a peevish maid ('La danse de mort') or a petty bourgeois ('L'affaire Lafarge'). If there was a common point between such varied characters, it was the elegant distance and the distinguished iciness she brought to the characters she embodied. A derelict woman played by Margo Lion was not a wreck but a lady who seemed to go through temporary trouble. Margo Lion is almost forgotten, which is a pity. She deserves better.- Actress
- Costume Designer
Mualla Sürer was born on 14 August 1902 in Nevsehir, Ottoman Empire [now Turkey]. She was an actress and costume designer, known for Yedi Kocali Hürmüz (1971), Çalikusu (1966) and Beni Osman öldürdü (1963). She died on 21 October 1976 in Istanbul, Turkey.- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Director
Jacques Rémy was born on 21 June 1911 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey]. He was a writer and assistant director, known for La fruta mordida (1945), The Damned (1947) and La chatte (1958). He was married to Catherine de Károlyi. He died on 1 December 1981 in Paris, France.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Charles Gérard was born on 1 December 1922 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey]. He was an actor and director, known for L'homme qui trahit la mafia (1967), Daggers Drawn (1964) and La loi des hommes (1962). He died on 19 September 2019 in Versailles, Yvelines, France.- Director
- Writer
- Actor
Arsevir Alyanak was born on 27 September 1907 in Adapazari, Ottoman Empire [now Sakarya, Turkey]. He was a director and writer, known for Yaban kiz (1954), Sokak çocugu (1958) and Kara bahtim (1957). He died on 1 May 1981 in Istanbul, Turkey.- Faik Coskun was born on 10 April 1914 in Kastamonu, Ottoman Empire [now Turkey]. He was an actor, known for Görünmeyen adam Istanbul'da (1955), Serseri (1967) and Kara Memed (1971). He died on 19 February 1978 in Istanbul, Turkey.
- Producer
- Director
- Editor
Henri Langlois was born on 13 November 1914 in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire [now Izmir, Turkey]. He was a producer and director, known for Montage de films muets français (1974), Le métro (1934) and Spatiodynamisme (1958). He died on 13 January 1977 in Paris, France.