Telli Savalas is a famous movie actor. US citizen. A native of New York City. Two-time winner of the Golden Globe Award. The role of the filmmaker in such legendary feature films as: “McKenna Gold”, “Horror Train”, “Heroes of Kelly”, “Dirty Dozen” brought world fame to the filmmaker. In the creative list of the American actor, screenwriter and director of 188 cinematographic works. The best series in which he participated was recognized as a fantastic multi-part film “The Twilight Zone”. Films with Telly Savalas belong to the genres of cinema: drama, action, crime, western. The actor began to build a career in 1950, playing Charles Rogan in the drama series Armstrong Theater. He worked in cinematography for more than forty years. He collaborated with actors: Leslie Nielsen, Anne Francis, Jim Bowles, Michael Constantine, Harold Stone and others. He was friends with the parent of the famous actress Jennifer Aniston, whom he is the godfather.
He was born under the sign of Aquarius. The growth of the actor is 180 cm. He was married to actress Marilyn Gardner. Had two children. He died in California on January 22, 1994 at the age of 72 years. The famous actor, who is rightly considered one of the best representatives of American art, continued to act in films until almost the day of his death.
Biography
Telli Savalas was born in the New York town of Garden City on January 21, 1922 in a family of immigrants from Greece. As a teenager, the future artist, along with his brother, helped parents support their family by selling newspapers and working as a shoe cleaner. When the Second World War began, he went to the front, from where he returned with the Purple Heart medal.
After serving in the army, Telli Savalas becomes a student at the Institute of the Armed Forces, where he will subsequently gain knowledge regarding work on television and radio. After that, he will graduate from Columbia University, within the walls of which he will study to be a psychologist. In the early 1950s, the film actor will be greeted by an employee of ABC Radio and Voice of America. Soon after, she agrees to become a producer and presenter of her own creative brainchild, The Coffee Shop.
Labor Rewards
Telli Savalas is called a characteristic actor who suits the roles of sinister heroes - sadists and mentally unhealthy personalities. Once a famous actor Bert Lancaster noticed a bald actor with a memorable appearance , who at that time starred in the drama “Bird Lover from Alcatraz”, which suggested taking him to this project. The producers did not fail, following the advice of Lancaster: for work in this film, Telli Savalas was among the Oscar nominees in the category "Best Supporting Actor". A New Yorker brilliantly developed in the “Bird Lover of Alcatraz” the image of prisoner Feto Gomez.
In 1973, the actor was invited to the crime series "Kodzhak", in which he amazingly conveyed the character and charisma of the bald guard of law, an incorruptible and courageous fighter for justice, whose only weakness is candy. The acting of Telli Savalas then aroused delight among film critics and viewers, which resulted in him receiving several prestigious awards, including the Emmy.
First movie roles
In 1951, portrayed Tex in the series "The Red Skelton Show." Two years later, appeared in the comedy of the series “Steel hour United States”. In 1958, he shaped the image of Gabriel Hody in the American crime television drama The Naked City. A little later, he becomes Charles in the series project “Bonanza” and his brother Hendricksen in “Sunset Strip 77”.
Last roles
In the television film Rose Against All (1991), it is easy to recognize him in George Parnassus, the protagonist of this Australian biographical and sports drama. In the same year, the actor tried on the usual image of a detective in the criminal project Kojak: Fatal Flaw, which is a continuation of the series "Kodzhak". Three years later, he becomes Richard Howland in the detective thriller The Thief Trickster, where searches for the killers of his sister lead the main character Heather to her former client and his wife, a nymphomaniac.
Telli Savalas passed away in 1994. It is known that he was known not only as a talented actor, but also as a poker player, proof of this is the fact that he practically entered the top 20 in the 1992 World Series of Poker.