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Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas (January 21, 1924 – January 22, 1994) was an American actor and singer whose career spanned four decades of television, noted for his resonant voice and his bald head. He also released the one-hit wonder song, "If?," which he introduced in the UK in 1975.[1]
Savalas's career began in films in 1961. His 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), Lisa and the Devil (1973), Inside Out (1975), and Escape to Athena (1979). He then starred as television's Kojak (1973–78), co-starring his brother George Savalas. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Birdman of Alcatraz (1962).
The second of five children, Telly Savalas was born Aristotelis Savalas[2] on January 21, 1924, in Garden City, New York, to Greek American parents Christina (née Kapsalis; 1904–88), a New York City artist who was a native of Sparta, and Nick Savalas [Tsavalas] (1904–48), a Greek restaurant owner. One set of grandparents originated from Ierakas, Greece, in the Peloponnese. Savalas and his brother Gus sold newspapers and shined shoes to help support the family.[3]
He initially spoke only Greek when he entered grade school, but learned English. He attended Cobbett Junior High School in Lynn, Massachusetts. He won a spelling bee there in 1934, though through an oversight he did not receive his prize until 1991, when the Boston Herald newspaper and local school principal decided to award it to him.
Savalas entered Sewanhaka High School in Floral Park, New York, and graduated in 1940.[4] After graduation from high school he worked as a lifeguard, but on one occasion was unsuccessful at rescuing a man from drowning, an event that would haunt Savalas for the remainder of his life.[citation needed] When he entered Columbia University School of General Studies, Savalas took courses including English language, radio, and psychology, graduating in 1948.[citation needed]
Savalas also served three years (1943–46) in the U.S. Army during World War II, in which he received a Purple Heart.[5]
Savalas's career began in films in 1961. His 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), Lisa and the Devil (1973), Inside Out (1975), and Escape to Athena (1979). He then starred as television's Kojak (1973–78), co-starring his brother George Savalas. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Birdman of Alcatraz (1962).
The second of five children, Telly Savalas was born Aristotelis Savalas[2] on January 21, 1924, in Garden City, New York, to Greek American parents Christina (née Kapsalis; 1904–88), a New York City artist who was a native of Sparta, and Nick Savalas [Tsavalas] (1904–48), a Greek restaurant owner. One set of grandparents originated from Ierakas, Greece, in the Peloponnese. Savalas and his brother Gus sold newspapers and shined shoes to help support the family.[3]
He initially spoke only Greek when he entered grade school, but learned English. He attended Cobbett Junior High School in Lynn, Massachusetts. He won a spelling bee there in 1934, though through an oversight he did not receive his prize until 1991, when the Boston Herald newspaper and local school principal decided to award it to him.
Savalas entered Sewanhaka High School in Floral Park, New York, and graduated in 1940.[4] After graduation from high school he worked as a lifeguard, but on one occasion was unsuccessful at rescuing a man from drowning, an event that would haunt Savalas for the remainder of his life.[citation needed] When he entered Columbia University School of General Studies, Savalas took courses including English language, radio, and psychology, graduating in 1948.[citation needed]
Savalas also served three years (1943–46) in the U.S. Army during World War II, in which he received a Purple Heart.[5]
Telly Savalas - Wikipedia
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Junket interview with Telly Savalas regarding the TV film Kojak: The Belarus File. Conducted in Hollywood circa 1985. Interview broadcast on KOLN/KGIN-TV (Li...
Thank you, my friend Maj Marty Hogan for letting us know that January 21 is the anniversary of the birth of American singer and character actor Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas whose career spanned four decades of television. He was noted for his deep, gravelly voice and his bald head.
I remember him most from the television crime drama Kojak (1973–1978),
Rest in peace Telly Savalas.
Junket interview with Telly Savalas regarding the TV film Kojak: The Belarus File. Conducted in Hollywood circa 1985. Interview broadcast on KOLN/KGIN-TV (Lincoln, NE).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XXxFZGHeKc
BIOGRAPHY from tellysavalas.com
Telly Savalas was an American actor best known for his role as a tough, New York City detective in the 1970's television series, Kojak.
He was born on January 21, 1922 in Garden City, New York as a son of Greek immigrants, Savalas and his brother Gus sold newspapers and shined shoes to help support the family. In 1941, he joined the army and served in World War II, from which he was discharged with a Purple Heart disability.
After his release, Savalas attended the Armed Forces Institute where he studied radio and television production. He went on to enroll at Columbia University where he continued his studies in psychology. During the early 1950s, Telly worked for ABC radio, the Voice of America, and eventually became the executive producer of his own popular talk show, Telly’s Coffee House, for which he earned a Peabody Award.
In 1959, Savalas attended an audition for the CBS anthology series Armstrong Circle Theatre, intending to prompt an actor friend who was up for a role. Instead, the casting director took Savalas’ sinister demeanor into account and cast him in a character part, which led to other TV assignments and movie roles. A performance in Matter of Conviction impressed actor Burt Lancaster, who cast him in Birdman of Alcatraz(1962). Savalas earned a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination for his role as solitary row prisoner Feto Gomez.The bald-headed actor became known for his sinister character roles, often as sadistic or psychotic types. In 1973, he landed the part of tough-talking New York City detective Theo Kojak in the TV movie The Marcus-Nelson Murders. His incorruptible, lollipop-sucking character was so popular that a spin-off series resulted, which ran from 1973-’78 on CBS. The show catapulted Savalas into icon status as the very image of the hedonistic ’70s. This clout allowed him to hire brother George (professionally named “Demosthenes”) in the role of Detective Stavros. And to this day, Kojak’s catchphrase, “Who loves ya, baby?” can be heard around the globe. Savalas won an Emmy and two Golden Globes for his role on the series.
After Kojak ended, Savalas embarked on a globe-trotting existence involving several forgettable European films and a decadent, self-indulgent lifestyle. Though he periodically revived the character of Kojak in a few 1980s TV movies, his new role as credit card spokesperson likely earned him more air time. After the show ended, Savalas continued to act in smaller roles in television and film. He died on January 22, 1994, in Universal City, California.
Kojak
Savalas’s best-known role was as the star of the television series Kojak. The series originated with the TV movie pilot The Marcus-Nelson Murders (CBS, 1973), which was based on the real-life Career Girls Murder case. Savalas’s character was named Theo “Kojack” in his first appearance.
Lt. Theodore “Theo” Kojak was a bald New York City detective with a fondness for lollipops and whose tagline was “Who loves ya, baby?” (He also liked to say, “Everybody should have a little Greek in them.”) Although the lollipop gimmick was added in order to indulge his sweet tooth, Savalas also smoked heavily onscreen – cigarettes, cigarillos and cigars – throughout the first season’s episodes. The lollipops, which Savalas later admitted. had given him three cavities, were also part of an (unsuccessful) effort by Kojak (and Savalas himself) to curb his smoking. The critic Clive James explained the lead actor’s appeal as Kojak: “Telly Savalas can make bad slang sound like good slang and good slang sound like lyric poetry. It isn’t what he is, so much as the way he talks, that gets you tuning in.”
He was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series two years in succession, winning the Emmy in 1974. He was also nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a TV Drama Series from 1975 to 1978, winning twice, in 1975 and 1976. His younger brother George played the regular role of Detective Stavros – a sensitive, wild-haired, quiet, comedic foil to Kojak’s street-wise humor in an otherwise dark dramatic TV series.
Kevin Dobson played the role of Kojak’s trusted young partner, Det. Bobby Crocker. The on-screen chemistry of Savalas and Dobson was a success story of 1970s television. After the show’s cancellation, Dobson went on to further fame in the popular prime-time 1980s soap opera Knots Landing. As a result, he did not appear in a majority of Kojak TV movies. Savalas and Dobson were reunited on-screen for one last time when they appeared together in the 1990 TV movie Kojak: It’s Always Something, where Dobson’s character was a lawyer – similar to his role on Knots Landing – instead of a police officer. Crocker, specifically, was a prosecutor in the storyline; his police experience had evidently given him a rich background from which he could draw when he studied for his law degree.
Kevin Dobson said of his first meeting with Telly Savalas: “The moment I met Telly Savalas, we shook hands and our eyes met and locked and the chemistry was there.” He also added: “The lollipop started in the 5th show. We were in Kojak’s office and Telly said, ‘Hey Kevin, I need somethin’ here.’ George handed Telly an apple and I said, ‘no,’ and a stagehand was standing off to the side (half asleep) with a lollipop jammed into his shirt pocket, along with cigs, pens, toothbrush, etc., and I said, ‘Yo, the lollipop’, as I motioned with my fingers (gimme the tootsie pop), and then said, ‘Telly, here yah go!’ Thus, the beginning of the ‘lollipop cop.'” He also said about Telly Savalas’s new determination off- the Kojak set: “He wanted to stop smoking. A friend of mine on the set had a lollipop in his shirt pocket, so I flipped it to him. … That started the lollipop cop.”
In 1978, after five seasons and 118 episodes, CBS canceled the show because of lowered ratings. Savalas was unhappy about the show’s demise, but he got the chance to reprise the Kojak persona in several television films.
Savalas portrayed Kojak in the following shows:
The Marcus-Nelson Murders (1973) (TV pilot)
Kojak (1973–78) TV Series
Kojak: The Belarus File (1985) (TV)
Kojak: The Price of Justice (1987) (TV)
Kojak: Ariana (1989) (TV)
Kojak: Fatal Flaw (1989) (TV)
Kojak: None So Blind (1990) (TV)
Kojak: It’s Always Something (1990) (TV)
Kojak: Flowers for Matty (1990) (TV)"
FYI LTC Jeff ShearerSGT Philip RoncariCWO3 Dennis M.SGT (Join to see)PO3 Bob McCordSGT Jim Arnold PO3 Phyllis Maynard Maj Robert Thornton SPC Douglas Bolton Cynthia Croft PO1 H Gene Lawrence PVT Karl Goode PO2 Kevin Parker SGT James Murphy SFC Michael Young MSgt Ken "Airsoldier" Collins-Hardy SGT Rick Colburn
I remember him most from the television crime drama Kojak (1973–1978),
Rest in peace Telly Savalas.
Junket interview with Telly Savalas regarding the TV film Kojak: The Belarus File. Conducted in Hollywood circa 1985. Interview broadcast on KOLN/KGIN-TV (Lincoln, NE).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XXxFZGHeKc
BIOGRAPHY from tellysavalas.com
Telly Savalas was an American actor best known for his role as a tough, New York City detective in the 1970's television series, Kojak.
He was born on January 21, 1922 in Garden City, New York as a son of Greek immigrants, Savalas and his brother Gus sold newspapers and shined shoes to help support the family. In 1941, he joined the army and served in World War II, from which he was discharged with a Purple Heart disability.
After his release, Savalas attended the Armed Forces Institute where he studied radio and television production. He went on to enroll at Columbia University where he continued his studies in psychology. During the early 1950s, Telly worked for ABC radio, the Voice of America, and eventually became the executive producer of his own popular talk show, Telly’s Coffee House, for which he earned a Peabody Award.
In 1959, Savalas attended an audition for the CBS anthology series Armstrong Circle Theatre, intending to prompt an actor friend who was up for a role. Instead, the casting director took Savalas’ sinister demeanor into account and cast him in a character part, which led to other TV assignments and movie roles. A performance in Matter of Conviction impressed actor Burt Lancaster, who cast him in Birdman of Alcatraz(1962). Savalas earned a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination for his role as solitary row prisoner Feto Gomez.The bald-headed actor became known for his sinister character roles, often as sadistic or psychotic types. In 1973, he landed the part of tough-talking New York City detective Theo Kojak in the TV movie The Marcus-Nelson Murders. His incorruptible, lollipop-sucking character was so popular that a spin-off series resulted, which ran from 1973-’78 on CBS. The show catapulted Savalas into icon status as the very image of the hedonistic ’70s. This clout allowed him to hire brother George (professionally named “Demosthenes”) in the role of Detective Stavros. And to this day, Kojak’s catchphrase, “Who loves ya, baby?” can be heard around the globe. Savalas won an Emmy and two Golden Globes for his role on the series.
After Kojak ended, Savalas embarked on a globe-trotting existence involving several forgettable European films and a decadent, self-indulgent lifestyle. Though he periodically revived the character of Kojak in a few 1980s TV movies, his new role as credit card spokesperson likely earned him more air time. After the show ended, Savalas continued to act in smaller roles in television and film. He died on January 22, 1994, in Universal City, California.
Kojak
Savalas’s best-known role was as the star of the television series Kojak. The series originated with the TV movie pilot The Marcus-Nelson Murders (CBS, 1973), which was based on the real-life Career Girls Murder case. Savalas’s character was named Theo “Kojack” in his first appearance.
Lt. Theodore “Theo” Kojak was a bald New York City detective with a fondness for lollipops and whose tagline was “Who loves ya, baby?” (He also liked to say, “Everybody should have a little Greek in them.”) Although the lollipop gimmick was added in order to indulge his sweet tooth, Savalas also smoked heavily onscreen – cigarettes, cigarillos and cigars – throughout the first season’s episodes. The lollipops, which Savalas later admitted. had given him three cavities, were also part of an (unsuccessful) effort by Kojak (and Savalas himself) to curb his smoking. The critic Clive James explained the lead actor’s appeal as Kojak: “Telly Savalas can make bad slang sound like good slang and good slang sound like lyric poetry. It isn’t what he is, so much as the way he talks, that gets you tuning in.”
He was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series two years in succession, winning the Emmy in 1974. He was also nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a TV Drama Series from 1975 to 1978, winning twice, in 1975 and 1976. His younger brother George played the regular role of Detective Stavros – a sensitive, wild-haired, quiet, comedic foil to Kojak’s street-wise humor in an otherwise dark dramatic TV series.
Kevin Dobson played the role of Kojak’s trusted young partner, Det. Bobby Crocker. The on-screen chemistry of Savalas and Dobson was a success story of 1970s television. After the show’s cancellation, Dobson went on to further fame in the popular prime-time 1980s soap opera Knots Landing. As a result, he did not appear in a majority of Kojak TV movies. Savalas and Dobson were reunited on-screen for one last time when they appeared together in the 1990 TV movie Kojak: It’s Always Something, where Dobson’s character was a lawyer – similar to his role on Knots Landing – instead of a police officer. Crocker, specifically, was a prosecutor in the storyline; his police experience had evidently given him a rich background from which he could draw when he studied for his law degree.
Kevin Dobson said of his first meeting with Telly Savalas: “The moment I met Telly Savalas, we shook hands and our eyes met and locked and the chemistry was there.” He also added: “The lollipop started in the 5th show. We were in Kojak’s office and Telly said, ‘Hey Kevin, I need somethin’ here.’ George handed Telly an apple and I said, ‘no,’ and a stagehand was standing off to the side (half asleep) with a lollipop jammed into his shirt pocket, along with cigs, pens, toothbrush, etc., and I said, ‘Yo, the lollipop’, as I motioned with my fingers (gimme the tootsie pop), and then said, ‘Telly, here yah go!’ Thus, the beginning of the ‘lollipop cop.'” He also said about Telly Savalas’s new determination off- the Kojak set: “He wanted to stop smoking. A friend of mine on the set had a lollipop in his shirt pocket, so I flipped it to him. … That started the lollipop cop.”
In 1978, after five seasons and 118 episodes, CBS canceled the show because of lowered ratings. Savalas was unhappy about the show’s demise, but he got the chance to reprise the Kojak persona in several television films.
Savalas portrayed Kojak in the following shows:
The Marcus-Nelson Murders (1973) (TV pilot)
Kojak (1973–78) TV Series
Kojak: The Belarus File (1985) (TV)
Kojak: The Price of Justice (1987) (TV)
Kojak: Ariana (1989) (TV)
Kojak: Fatal Flaw (1989) (TV)
Kojak: None So Blind (1990) (TV)
Kojak: It’s Always Something (1990) (TV)
Kojak: Flowers for Matty (1990) (TV)"
FYI LTC Jeff ShearerSGT Philip RoncariCWO3 Dennis M.SGT (Join to see)PO3 Bob McCordSGT Jim Arnold PO3 Phyllis Maynard Maj Robert Thornton SPC Douglas Bolton Cynthia Croft PO1 H Gene Lawrence PVT Karl Goode PO2 Kevin Parker SGT James Murphy SFC Michael Young MSgt Ken "Airsoldier" Collins-Hardy SGT Rick Colburn
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