Telly Savalas, American actor
Aristotelis Savalas (January 21, 1922) was a Greek American film and television actor and singer, whose career spanned four decades. Best known for playing the title role in the 1970s crime drama Kojak, Savalas was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Birdman of Alcatraz (1962). His other movie credits include The Young Savages (1961), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), Battle of the Bulge (1965), The Dirty Dozen (1967), The Scalphunters (1968), supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), Kelly’s Heroes (1970), Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971), Inside Out (1975), and Escape to Athena (1979).
Savalas, the second of five children, was born as Aristotelis Savalas in Garden City, New York, in 1922, to Greek American parents Christina, a New York City artist. When he entered Sewanhaka High School in Floral Park, New York, he initially only spoke Greek, but learned English and graduated in 1940. After graduation he worked as a lifeguard, but on one occasion was unsuccessful at rescuing a man from drowning, an event which would haunt Savalas for the remainder of his life. When he entered Columbia University School of General Studies Savalas took courses including English language, radio, and psychology, graduating in 1948. At that time he fell in love with radio and television, which led to his interest in acting. Savalas also gained life experience with a three-year period (1943–1946) in the US Army during World War II, working for the US State Department as host of the Your Voice of America series, then at ABC News, before beginning an acting career in his late thirties. In 1950 Savalas hosted a popular radio show called The Coffeehouse in New York City.
As a singer, Savalas had some chart success. His spoken word version of Bread’s “If” produced by Snuff Garrett was #1 in Europe for 10 weeks in 1975 and his sung version of Don Williams’ “Some Broken Hearts Never Mend” topped the charts in 1980. He worked with composer and producer John Cacavas on many albums, including Telly (1974) and Who Loves Ya, Baby (1976).
Savalas died on January 22, 1994, at the age of 72, just one day after his birthday, of complications of cancer of the bladder and prostate at the Sheraton-Universal Hotel in Universal City, California. He had lived at the Sheraton in Universal City for twenty years, becoming such a fixture at the hotel bar that it was renamed Telly’s. Savalas was interred at the George Washington section of Forest Lawn – Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. The funeral, held in the Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Church, was attended by his third wife, Julie, and his brother Gus. His first two wives, Katherine and Marilyn, also attended with their own children. The mourners included Angie Dickinson, Nicollette Sheridan, Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Sorbo, Sally Adams, Frank Sinatra, Don Rickles, and several of Telly’s Kojak co-stars—Kevin Dobson, Dan Frazer, and Vince Conti.
Source: Wikipedia.com
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