Tuncel Kurtiz

Tuncel Kurtiz was a Turkish theatre, movie and TV series actor, playwright, and film director. He was born in 1936 in Bahçecik, a town in Kocaeli Province, Turkey. His father was a district governor and his mother was a teacher of Bosniak descent. He graduated from the Haydarpaşa High School in Istanbul and studied English philology at Istanbul University. He started his acting career in 1958 with Dormen Theatre and performed on many stages in Turkey and abroad. He was also a friend and collaborator of the renowned film director Yılmaz Güney, with whom he made several films, such as Umut (1970), which was smuggled to Cannes Film Festival. He acted in more than 70 movies, including many international productions, such as The Edge of Heaven (2007) by Fatih Akın. He also wrote and directed some films, such as Gül Hasan (1980) and Saç (1977). He was also a popular TV actor, known for his roles in Ezel (2009-2011) as Ramiz Karaeski and in Muhteşem Yüzyıl (2012-2013) as Ebu Suud Efendi. He received many awards for his work, such as the Golden Orange Award for Best Screenplay (1981), the Silver Bear Award for Best Actor (1986), the Golden Orange Award for Best Supporting Actor (1994 and 2007), and the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Golden Orange Film Festival (2011). He was married to Menend Kurtiz and had two children, Aslı and Mirza. He died in 2013 at the age of 77 following a fall-inflicted head trauma in his residence in Etiler, Istanbul. He was buried in Çamlıbel, Balıkesir, Turkey, after a controversy over his desired burial place in an Alevi village. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential and respected actors in Turkish cinema and theatre history.