Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas was an 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.
His other movie credits include The Young Savages, The Greatest Story Ever Told, Battle
of the Bulge, The Dirty Dozen, The Scalphunters, supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James
Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Kelly's Heroes, Pretty Maids All in a Row,
Inside Out, and Escape to Athena.
Early life The second of five children, Telly Savalas
was born as Aristotelis Savalas in Garden City, New York, in 1922, to Greek American
parents Christina, a New York City artist who was a native of Sparta, and Nick Savalas,
a Greek restaurant owner.
He entered Sewanhaka High School in Floral Park, New York, and graduated in 1940.
He initially spoke only Greek when he entered grade school, but learned English.
After graduation from high school 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 served three years in the United States 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 radio show called The Coffeehouse in New York City.
Early television and movie career
Savalas began as an executive director and then senior director of the news special events
at ABC.
He then became an executive producer for the Gillette Cavalcade of Sports where he gave
Howard Cosell his first job in television.
Savalas was a character actor on television series during 1959 and the 1960s.
His first acting role was on "And Bring Home a Baby", an episode of Armstrong Circle Theatre
in January 1959.
He appeared on two more episodes of this same series in 1959 and 1960.
Between 1959 and 1967, he made more than fifty guest appearances in such series as Naked
City, Empire, Arrest and Trial, The Eleventh Hour, King of Diamonds, The Aquanauts, The
Untouchables, Diagnosis: Unknown, Burke's Law, Combat!, The Fugitive, Breaking Point,
Bonanza, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The F.B.I. and the The Twilight Zone classic episode
"Living Doll" in which he can be seen with hair.
He had a recurring role as Brother Hendricksen on the popular crime drama series, 77 Sunset
Strip and was a regular on the short-lived NBC television series Acapulco.
In 1980, he starred in the TV film Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story.
While playing Lucky Luciano on the TV series The Witness, he was "discovered" by actor
Burt Lancaster.
He appeared with Lancaster in four movies – the first of these was the crime drama
The Young Savages.
After playing a police officer in this movie, he moved on to play a string of heavies.
Once again opposite Lancaster, he won acclaim and an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting
Actor for his performance as the sadistic Feto Gomez in Birdman of Alcatraz.
In the same year he appeared alongside Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum in Cape Fear as private
detective Charles Sievers.
Savalas shaved his head for his role as Pontius Pilate in The Greatest Story Ever Told, and
decided to remain shaved for the remainder of his life.
Savalas played Archer Maggott in The Dirty Dozen, the seminal ensemble action film by
director Robert Aldrich.
He later returned to play a different character in two of the movie's TV sequels – The Dirty
Dozen: The Deadly Mission and The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission.
He co-starred with Burt Lancaster for the third time in The Scalphunters, a comedy western
that looked at racism during the Civil Rights movement.
Two more appearances in comedies for Savalas were as Herbie Haseler in Crooks and Coronets
and opposite Clint Eastwood in Kelly's Heroes where he played the hard-as-nails company
sergeant "Big Joe".
His career was transformed with the lead role in the TV-movie The Marcus Nelson Murders,
which was based on the real-life Career Girls Murder case, and pop culture icon Theo Kojak
was born.
In that TV-movie, the pilot for the series, and only in that TV-movie, his name was spelled
as "Kojack".
That spelling was replaced with the more familiar 'Kojak" for the rest of the run.
In addition, Savalas performed a voice over for a 70s nature series on Yosemite National
Park.
Kojak Savalas's best-known role was as the star
of the television series Kojak.
Lt. Theo Kojak was a bald New York City detective with a fondness for lollipops and whose tagline
was "Who loves ya, baby?"
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.
"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," wrote the
critic Clive James trying to explain some of the great popularity of the show.
He was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series two years in
a row, 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.
Dobson said of his first meeting with Savalas: "The moment I met Telly Savalas, we shook
hands and our eyes met and locked and the chemistry was there."
Dobson added: "The lollypop started in the 5th show.
We were in Kojaks' 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 lollypop was jammed into his shirt packet along with cigs, pens,toothbrush
etc. and I said "Yo,the lollypop" as I motioned with my fingers and then said "Telly, here
yah go!".
Thus the beginning of the "lollypop 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
Kojak TV Series Kojak: The Belarus File
Kojak: The Price of Justice Kojak: Ariana
Kojak: Fatal Flaw Kojak: None So Blind
Kojak: It's Always Something Kojak: Flowers for Matty
Other career achievements As a singer, Savalas had some chart success.
His spoken word version of Bread's "If" produced by Snuff Garrett reached #1 in the UK 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 and
Who Loves Ya, Baby.
After the success of "If" in the UK, a parody version recorded by British voiceover artists
Chris Sanford and Bill Mitchell performing as Yin and Yan, reached number 25 in the UK
charts.
Telly appeared in several episodes of the television series The Untouchables, which
dealt with the era of Al Capone and Eliot Ness during the years of prohibition.
In the late 1970s, Savalas narrated three United Kingdom travelogues titled Telly Savalas
Looks at Portsmouth, Telly Savalas Looks at Aberdeen and Telly Savalas Looks at Birmingham.
These were produced by Harold Baim and were examples of quota quickies which were then
part of a requirement that cinemas in the United Kingdom show a set percentage of British
produced films.
He also hosted the 1989 video UFOs and Channeling.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Savalas appeared in commercials for the Players' Club Gold
Card.
In 1982, along with Bob Hope and Linda Evans, he participated in the "world premiere" television
ad introducing Diet Coke to Americans.
Savalas appeared on the Australian supernatural television show The Extraordinary, where he
told a personal ghost story similar to the vanishing hitchhiker.
In the late 1980s, Savalas guest starred on an episode of The Equalizer, which was produced
by James McAdams, who had produced Kojak.
He played a terrorist turned monk in the episode entitled "Blood and Wine".
He has been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In 1996 TV Guide ranked him number 33 on its 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time list.
Paranormal In the early 1990s, before Savalas' death,
The Australian TV show, "The Extraordinary," aired an interview where Savalas recites at
least two encounters of a ghostly male with a high voice.
The first encounter Savalas recited occurred when he was walking along a highway at night
with an empty gas can.
He was walking to a gas station to get some more fuel when a man drove up beside him.
The driver said in a high voice, "I'll give you a ride".
Savalas agreed and the two drove to the closest gas station where they got gas at the driver's
expense, and then returned to Savalas' car.
Once they returned to the car, Savalas got the number of the driver so they could meet
up later so Savalas can repay the driver.
When Savalas got around to calling the number he was informed by what turned out to be the
wife of the man that he had been dead for some time thus making it impossible for the
man to have given Savalas a ride.
After a few calls, the wife of the man agreed to meet up with Savalas.
It was then that Savalas found her husband had been killed via a gunshot to the throat.
The second encounter Savalas mentioned happened on November 22, 1963.
He and a few golfing buddies were playing golf when nearby, the same man with a high
voice yelled out, "Did you hear what happened in Dallas?"
Savalas pretended that nothing had happened and played a few more rounds of golf.
It was only when Savalas and his golfing buddies returned to the golf house, that they saw
a news report of the JFK Assassination.
Savalas recalled that the man with the high voice yelled out at the same time that JFK
was shot.
Personal life
Savalas was married three times.
In 1948 after his father's death from bladder cancer, Savalas married his college sweetheart,
Katherine Nicolaides.
Daughter Christina, named after his mother, was born in 1950.
In 1957, Katherine filed for divorce after she found out from Telly that he was running
away to flee his creditors.
She urged him to move back to his mother's house during that same year.
While Savalas was going broke, he founded the Garden City Theater Center in his native
Garden City.
While working there, he met Marilyn Gardner, a theater teacher.
They married in 1960.
Marilyn gave birth to daughter Penelope in 1961.
A second daughter, Candace, was born in 1963.
In 1969, while working on the movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Savalas met Sally
Adams.
Sally gave birth to their son Nicholas Savalas on February 24, 1973.
Gardner filed for divorce from Savalas in 1974, but Savalas and Sally Adams never legally
married.
In 1977 during the last season of Kojak, he met Julie Hovland, a travel agent from Minnesota.
They were married in 1984 and had two children together, Christian and Ariana.
Julie and Telly remained married until his death.
Christian Savalas is an actor, singer and songwriter.
Ariana Savalas is an actress and singer/songwriter.
Julie Savalas is an inventor and artist.
Telly Savalas held a degree in psychology and was a world-class poker player who finished
21st at the main event in the 1992 World Series of Poker, as well as a motorcycle racer and
lifeguard.
His other hobbies and interests included golfing, swimming, reading romantic books, watching
football, traveling, collecting luxury cars and gambling.
He loved horse racing and bought a racehorse with movie director and producer Howard W.
Koch.
Naming the horse Telly's Pop, it won several races in 1975 including the Norfolk Stakes
and Del Mar Futurity.
In his capacity as producer for Kojak, he gave many stars their first break, as Burt
Lancaster did for him.
He was considered by those who knew him to be a generous, graceful, compassionate man.
He was also a strong contributor to his Greek Orthodox roots through the Saint Sophia and
Saint Nicholas cathedrals in Los Angeles and was the sponsor of bringing electricity in
the 1970s to his ancestral home, Yeraka, Greece.
Telly was also Jennifer Aniston's godfather.
Savalas had a minor physical handicap in that his left index finger was deformed.
This deformed digit was often indicated on screen; Kojak episode "Conspiracy of Fear"
in which a close-up of Savalas holding his chin in his hand clearly shows the permanently
bent finger.
As a philanthropist and philhellene, Telly Savalas supported many Hellenic causes and
made friends in major cities around the world.
In Chicago, Telly often met with Illinois State Senators Steven G. Nash and Samuel Maragos,
also Greeks, as well as Greek millionaire Simeon Frangos, who owned the Athens North
nightclub and the Flying Carpet Hotel near O'Hare airport.
Deaths of relatives and his own last days After Savalas came back to reprise his role
on Kojak in the 1980s, he began to lose close relatives.
George Savalas, his brother who played Detective Stavros on the original Kojak series, died
in 1985 of leukemia at age 60.
George Savalas recorded a series of Greek folk songs.
His mother Christina, who had always been his best friend, supporter, and devoted parent,
died in 1989.
Later that year, Savalas was diagnosed with transitional cell cancer of the bladder.
While fighting for his life, he continued to star in many roles, including a recurring
role on The Commish.
Death 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 20 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.
Movie roles His silver screen career usually involved
him being cast as the villain in such films as:
Mad Dog Coll The Young Savages
Johnny Cool The Man from the Diner's Club
Love Is a Ball The Greatest Story Ever Told as Pontius Pilate
The Slender Thread Genghis Khan
Battle of the Bulge as Sergeant Guffy Beau Geste as Sergeant Dagineau
The Dirty Dozen as Archer Maggott The Karate Killers as Count Valeriano De Fanzini
The Scalphunters as Jim Howie The Assassination Bureau
On Her Majesty's Secret Service as Ernst Stavro Blofeld
Land Raiders Crooks and Coronets as Herbie Haseler
Mackenna's Gold as Cavalry Sergeant Tibbs Violent City
A Town Called Hell Pancho Villa
Crime Boss Scenes from a Murder
Sonny and Jed Horror Express
Lisa and the Devil A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die
Senza Ragione aka Redneck Killer Force
Beyond Reason Beyond the Poseidon Adventure as Doctor Stefan
Svevo Tales of the Unexpected: Completely Foolproof
as Joe Brisson Cannonball Run II as Hymie Kaplan
GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords Other movie roles where Savalas didn't play
the villain were: Birdman of Alcatraz as Feto Gomez
Cape Fear Love Is a Ball as P.I.
Charles Sievers The New Interns
Genghis Khan as Shan The Slender Thread
Battle of the Bulge as Tank Sgt.
Guffy Sol Madrid
Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell Kelly's Heroes as Master Sergeant "big" Joe
Pretty Maids All in a Row Clay Pigeon
Inside Out as Harry Morgan Capricorn One as Albain, the biplane pilot
Escape to Athena as Zino Border Cop as Frank Cooper
Nevada Heat as Detective The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland as the
Cheshire Cat The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission as Major
Wright Faceless as Terry Hallen
The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission as Major Wright
Legacy Space Adventure Cobra has a supporting character
with a surname of Savalas.
See also References
External links TellySavalas.com
Telly Savalas at the Internet Movie Database