Name Turhan Bey | Role Actor | |
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Full Name Turhan Gilbert Selahattin Sahultavy Years active 1941–1953 and 1990–1998 Died September 30, 2012, Vienna, Austria Movies Ali Baba and the Forty Thie, The Amazing Mr X, Arabian Nights, Dragon Seed, Night in Paradise Similar People Arthur Lubin, Ray Taylor, Jack Conway, George Waggner, Alfred Zeisler | ||
R i p turhan bey babylon 5 s centauri emperor
Turhan Bey (30 March 1922 – 30 September 2012) was an Austrian-born actor of Turkish origin. Turhan was active in Hollywood from 1941 to 1953. He was dubbed "The Turkish Delight" by his fans. After his return to Austria, he pursued careers as a photographer and stage director. Returning briefly to Hollywood to receive an award, he made several guest appearances in 1990s television series including SeaQuest DSV, Murder, She Wrote and Babylon 5 as well as a number of films. After retiring he appeared in a number of documentaries, including a German-language documentary on his life.
Contents
- R i p turhan bey babylon 5 s centauri emperor
- Turhan bey 1995 tv interview
- Life and career
- Death
- In popular culture
- Filmography
- References
Turhan bey 1995 tv interview
Life and career
Turhan was born Turhan Gilbert Selahattin Sahultavy in Vienna, Austria, on 30 March 1922, as the son of a Turkish diplomat and a Czechoslovakian Jewish mother. After the annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany and his parents' divorce, he and his mother emigrated to the U.S. in 1940, settling in Los Angeles.
Bey was an acting student at Ben Bard's School of Dramatic Art and was active in the Pasadena Playhouse.
When he enrolled in classes to improve his English, he also was asked to play a role in a teacher's play. A talent scout from Warner Brothers was in the audience, was impressed and signed him to a contract, under the name of Turhan Bey.
He often appeared with María Montez; they appeared in the Universal films Raiders of the Desert, Arabian Nights, White Savage, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Bowery to Broadway, Follow the Boys, and Sudan. He also had roles in Night in Paradise, The Amazing Mr. X and Out of the Blue. In 1944 a poll by exhibitors of "Stars of Tomorrow" listed him at number nine.
Turhan's career faded by the late 1940s and, after filming Sam Katzman's Prisoners of the Casbah in 1953, and facing an unknown scandal, he moved back to Vienna and lived with his mother while working as a photographer for girlie magazines. Turhan returned to the United States in the early 1990s and appeared in two episodes of the science fiction TV series Babylon 5: first as the Emperor of the Centauri Republic (who also had the name Turhan), and later as a Minbari Ranger named Turval. A documentary film about Turhan, Vom Glück verfolgt. Wien - Hollywood - Retour, was made in 2002 by Andrea Eckert.
Death
Turhan died on 30 September 2012 from Parkinson's disease.
In popular culture
Turhan Bey's long absence from Hollywood was referenced in the first part of the 1969 Get Smart episode "To Sire, With Love". Maxwell Smart claims that after appearing in an unspecified movie involving mummies, Bey was cursed and his career never recovered.