Telly Savalas

Aristotelis Savalas (Greek: Αριστοτέλης Σαβάλας; January 21, 1922 – January 22, 1994) was an American actor and singer whose career spanned four decades. Noted for his bald head and deep, resonant voice,[2][3][4][5] he is perhaps best known for portraying Lt. Theo Kojak on the crime drama series Kojak (1973–1978) and Bond villain Blofeld in the film On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).

Telly Savalas
Savalas in July 1973
Born	Aristotelis Savalas January 21, 1922 Garden City, New York, U.S.
Died	January 22, 1994(1994-01-22) (aged 72) Universal City, California, U.S.
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, singer
Years active	1950–1994
Spouse(s)	Katherine Nicolaides ​ ( m. 1948; div. 1957) Marilyn Gardner ​ ( m. 1960; div. 1974) Julie Hovland ​ ( m. 1984)
Children	6, including Ariana
Military career
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1941–1943[1]
Rank	Corporal
Unit	4th Medical Training Regiment
Battles/wars	World War II
Awards	Purple Heart
Website	https://www.tellysavalas.com/

Savalas' other roles include Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), Battle of the Bulge (1965), The Dirty Dozen (1967), Kelly's Heroes (1970), and Escape to Athena (1979). For Birdman of Alcatraz, he was nominated for the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor.

As a singer, Savalas released a cover of the Bread song "If", which became a UK No. 1 single in 1975, and was a one-hit wonder.[6]

Early life

Aristotelis Savalas[7] was born in Garden City, New York, on either January 21[8] or 22, 1922,[9] the second of five children born to ethnic Greek parents Christina (née Kapsalis; 1904–1988), an artist who was a native of Sparta, and Nick Savalas (c. 1883–1948), a restaurant owner. His paternal grandparents came from the Greek village of Ierakas. Savalas and his brother, Gus, sold newspapers and polished shoes to help support the family.[10] Savalas initially only spoke Greek when he entered grade school, but later learned English. He attended Cobbett Junior High School in Lynn, Massachusetts. He won a spelling bee there in 1934; due to an oversight, he did not receive his prize until 1991, when the school principal and Boston Herald decided to award it to him.[11]

Savalas graduated from Sewanhaka High School in Floral Park, New York in 1940.[12] A renowned swimmer, he worked as a beach lifeguard after graduation from high school. However, on one occasion, he was unsuccessful in saving a father from drowning; as he determinedly tried resuscitation, the man's two children stood nearby crying for their father to wake up. This affected Savalas so much that he spent the rest of his life constantly promoting water safety, and later made all six of his children take swimming lessons.[13]

Military service

In 1941, Savalas was drafted into the United States Army. From 1941 to 1943, Savalas served in Company C, 12th Medical Training Battalion, 4th Medical Training Regiment at Camp Pickett, Virginia. In 1943, he was discharged from the Army with the rank of corporal after being severely injured in a car accident. Savalas spent more than a year recuperating in hospital with a broken pelvis, sprained ankle and concussion.[1] He then attended the Armed Forces Institute where he studied radio and television production.[14]

He received a bachelor's degree in psychology from Columbia's School of General Studies in 1946[7][15] and started working on a master's degree while preparing for medical school.[16]

Early career

After the war, he worked for the U.S. State Department as host of the Your Voice of America series, then at ABC News.[17][18] In 1950, Savalas hosted a radio show called "The Coffeehouse in New York City".[19]

Savalas began as an executive director and then as 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.[19][20] Before his acting career took off, Savalas directed Scott Vincent and Howard Cosell in Report to New York, WABC-TV's first regularly-scheduled news program in fall 1959.[21]

Savalas did not consider acting as a career until asked if he could recommend an actor who could do a European accent. He did but as the friend in question could not go, Savalas himself went to cover for his friend and ended up being cast on "And Bring Home a Baby", an episode of Armstrong Circle Theatre in January 1958. He appeared on two more episodes of the series in 1959 and 1960, one, acting alongside a young Sydney Pollack.[22] He was also in a version of The Iceman Cometh.[23]

Savalas quickly became in much demand as a guest star on TV shows, appearing in Sunday Showcase, Diagnosis: Unknown, Dow Hour of Great Mysteries (an adaptation of The Cat and the Canary), Naked City (alongside Claude Rains), The Witness (playing Lucky Luciano in one episode and Al Capone in another), The United States Steel Hour, and The Aquanauts.[24][25] He was a regular on the short-lived NBC series Acapulco (1961) with Ralph Taeger and James Coburn.

Savalas made his film debut in Mad Dog Coll (1961), playing a cop. His work had impressed fellow actor Burt Lancaster, who arranged for Savalas to be cast in the John Frankenheimer directed The Young Savages (also 1961 and again playing a cop).[26] Pollack worked on the film as an acting coach.[27]

In one of his most acclaimed performances, Savalas reunited with Lancaster and Frankenheimer for Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), where he was nominated for the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor. The same year, he appeared as a private detective in Cape Fear (directed by J. Lee Thompson whom Savalas would work with in future films), and The Interns, reprising his role from the latter film in The New Interns (1964).[28]

Savalas also guest starred in a number of TV series during the decade including The New Breed, The Detectives, Ben Casey, The Twilight Zone (the episode "Living Doll") and Arrest and Trial among others.[19]

Baldness and stardom

Savalas, already at a late stage of male-pattern baldness, shaved his head to play Pontius Pilate in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) and kept his head shaven for the rest of his life.[29] He reunited with J. Lee Thompson in John Goldfarb, Please Come Home! (1965), and was one of many names in Genghis Khan (also 1965).[7]

He was part of an all-star cast in The Dirty Dozen (1967), playing Archer Maggott (the worst of the dozen), in a role Jack Palance turned down. He reunited with Burt Lancaster and Sydney Pollack in the Western The Scalphunters (1968), and also featured in the comedy Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell (also 1968) — noted as one of his favorite roles — and the all-star action movie Mackenna's Gold (1969), his third film for J. Lee Thompson.[30] Savalas attributed his success to "his complete ability to be himself."[31]

After continued supporting roles in films such as The Man from the Diners' Club, Love Is a Ball and Johnny Cool (all 1963),[32] Savalas' first leading role in film was in the British crime comedy Crooks and Coronets (1969). The same year he appeared in the James Bond movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service, playing Ernst Stavro Blofeld. He continued to appear in films during the 1970s including Kelly's Heroes (1970) (with Clint Eastwood), Clay Pigeon (1971), and several European features such as Violent City (1970) (with Charles Bronson), A Town Called Bastard (1971), Horror Express (with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee), A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die (all 1972), and Redneck (1973). He reunited with Lee in the 1976 thriller Killer Force, and also appeared in Peter Hyams' Capricorn One (1978).[33]

Savalas also wrote, directed and starred in the 1977 independent thriller Beyond Reason. However, the film was not released in cinemas; it was only made available on home media in 1985.[34]

"I had worked my way up to star billing," he later said, "when the bottom dropped out of the movie business. I could have stayed in Europe and made Italian movies but I discovered the big difference between an Italian and American movie is that in the American movie you get paid."[35]

Savalas and Sally Field in Mongo's Back in Town (1971)

Kojak (1973–1978; 1985–1990)

Savalas first played Lt. Theodopolus "Theo" Kojak in the TV movie The Marcus–Nelson Murders (CBS, 1973), which was based on the real-life Career Girls Murder case.[36]

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 had apparently given him three cavities, and were 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."[37]

David Shipman later wrote: "Kojak was sympathetic to outcasts and ruthless with social predators. The show maintained a high quality to the end, mixing tension with some laughs and always anxious to tackle civic issues, one of its raisons d’etre in the first place. It was required viewing in Britain every Saturday evening for eight years. To almost everyone everywhere Kojak means Savalas and vice versa, but to Savalas himself the series was merely an interval, albeit a long one, in a distinguished career."[33]

Kojak aired on CBS for five seasons from October 24, 1973, until March 18, 1978, with 118 episodes produced. The role won Savalas an Emmy and two Golden Globes for Best Actor in a Drama Series. Co-stars on the show included Savalas' younger brother George as Detective Stavros – a sensitive, wild-haired, quiet, comedic foil to Kojak's street-wise humor in an otherwise dark dramatic series[38] – Kevin Dobson as Kojak's trusted young partner, Det. Bobby Crocker, whose on-screen chemistry with Savalas was a success story of 1970s television,[39] and Dan Frazer as Captain Frank McNeil.[40]

Due to a decline in ratings, the series was canceled by CBS in 1978. Savalas and Frazer were the only actors to appear in all 118 episodes. Savalas was unhappy about the show's demise[41] but got the chance to reprise the Kojak persona in several television movies, starting in 1985.[42][43] The first film, subtitled The Belarus File and broadcast in February 1985, reunited Savalas with several of his co-stars from the series: younger brother George, Dan Frazer, Mark Russell (Det. Saperstein) and Vince Conti (Det. Rizzo); this marked those actors' final appearances in the Kojak franchise.[44][45]

A further six Kojak TV movies were produced, titled The Price of Justice (1987),[46] Ariana, Fatal Flaw (both 1989), Flowers for Matty, It's Always Something – with Kevin Dobson reprising his role of Bobby Crocker, now an Assistant District Attorney – and None So Blind (all 1990).[47][48]

Later career

Savalas was part of an all-star cast in the movies Escape to Athena (1979), Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (both 1979) and Cannonball Run II (1984), and continued to appear in a number of film and television guest roles during the 1980s, including Border Cop (1980) and Faceless (1988), the series Tales of the Unexpected (1981), and two episodes each of The Love Boat (1985) and The Equalizer (1987): the latter series was produced by James McAdams, who had also produced Kojak.

Savalas was the lead actor in the TV movie Hellinger's Law (1981), which was originally planned as a pilot for a series but ultimately never materialized.[49]

In 1992, he appeared in three episodes of the TV series The Commish (his son-in-law was one of the producers). This was Savalas' final television role. He would appear in two further feature films before his death, Mind Twister (1993) and the posthumous release Backfire! (1995).[30]

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 both the UK and Ireland in March 1975, and his version of Don Williams's "Some Broken Hearts Never Mend" topped the charts in Switzerland in February 1981.[50] He worked with composer and producer John Cacavas on many albums,[51] including Telly (1974) and Who Loves Ya, Baby (1976).

In the late 1970s Savalas narrated three UK travelogues titled Telly Savalas Looks at Portsmouth, Telly Savalas Looks at Aberdeen, and Telly Savalas Looks at Birmingham. They 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.[52] 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.[53] On October 28, 1987, Savalas hosted Return to the Titanic Live, a two-hour television special broadcast from Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie in Paris.[54][55] He also hosted the 1989 video UFOs and Channeling.

He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1983. In 1999, TV Guide ranked him number 18 on its 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time list.[56]

Personal life

The Savalas brothers (l-r): Teddy, Telly, Gus & George

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. 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. They divorced in 1974, after a long separation.[16]

In January 1969, while working on the movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Savalas met actress Sally Adams (billed as Dani Sheridan, one of Blofeld's "Angels of Death"), a small-time actress 25 years his junior whose daughter from a previous relationship is Nicollette Sheridan. Savalas later moved in with Sally, who gave birth to their son Nicholas Savalas on February 24, 1973. Although Savalas and Sally Adams never legally married, she went by the name Sally Savalas.[57] They stopped living together in December 1978; she filed a palimony lawsuit against him in 1980, demanding support not only for herself and their son, but also for Nicollette.[57]

In 1977, during the last season of Kojak, Savalas met Julie Hovland, a travel agent from Minnesota. The couple were married from 1984 until his death and had two children: Christian, an entrepreneur, singer and songwriter, and Ariana, an actress and singer/songwriter.[58][59] Savalas was close friends with actor John Aniston,[20] and was godfather to his daughter Jennifer, a successful TV and film actress.[60]

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. He was also 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.[61][62]

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, Ierakas, Greece.

Savalas had a minor physical handicap in that his left index finger was deformed.[63] This deformed digit was often indicated on screen; the 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, Savalas supported many Hellenic causes and made friends in major cities around the world. In Chicago, he 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.

In 1993 Savalas appeared on an Australian TV show, The Extraordinary, with a paranormal tale where he talked about an experience that he had that he could not explain.[64][65]

Deaths of relatives and later years

After Savalas reprised his Kojak role in the 1980s, he began to lose close relatives. His brother George Savalas, who played Stavros in the original series, died in 1985 of leukemia at age 60. His mother Christina, who had always been his best friend, supporter and devoted parent, died in 1988. Later that year, Savalas was diagnosed with transitional cell cancer of the bladder.[58][59]

Death

Savalas died on January 22, 1994, one day after his 72nd birthday, of complications of cancer of the bladder and prostate[66] at the Sheraton-Universal Hotel in Universal City, California.[67] 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.[68] 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 (his goddaughter), Kevin Sorbo, Sally Adams, Frank Sinatra, Don Rickles, and several of Savalas' Kojak co-stars – Kevin Dobson, Dan Frazer, and Vince Conti.[69]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1961	Mad Dog Coll	Lt. Darro
1961	The Young Savages	Det. Lt. Gunderson
1961	The Sin of Jesus	Felix	Short
1962	Cape Fear	Private Det. Charles Sievers
1962	Birdman of Alcatraz	Feto Gomez	Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
1962	The Interns	Dr. Dominic Riccio
1963	The Man from the Diners' Club	Foots Pulardos
1963	Love Is a Ball	Dr. Christian Gump (Millie's uncle)
1963	Johnny Cool	Vincenzo 'Vince' Santangelo
1964	The New Interns	Dr. Dominick 'Dom' Riccio
1965	The Greatest Story Ever Told	Pontius Pilate
1965	John Goldfarb, Please Come Home!	Macmuid (Harem Recruiter)	Uncredited
1965	Genghis Khan	Shan
1965	Battle of the Bulge	Sgt. Guffy	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
1965	The Slender Thread	Dr. Joe Coburn
1966	Beau Geste	Sgt. Major Dagineau
1967	The Dirty Dozen	Archer Maggott
1968	Sol Madrid	Emil Dietrich
1968	The Scalphunters	Jim Howie
1968	Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell	Walter Braddock
1969	The Assassination Bureau	Lord Bostwick
1969	Mackenna's Gold	Sgt. Tibbs
1969	Sophie's Place	Herbie Haseler	Known as Crooks and Coronets in the United Kingdom
1969	On Her Majesty's Secret Service	Ernst Stavro Blofeld
1970	Land Raiders	Vicente Cardenas
1970	Kelly's Heroes	Big Joe
1970	Violent City	Al Weber
1971	Pretty Maids All in a Row	Surcher
1971	A Town Called Bastard	Don Carlos
1971	Clay Pigeon	Redford
1972	Crime Boss	Don Vincenzo
1972	Sonny and Jed	Sheriff Franciscus
1972	Horror Express	Capt. Kazan
1972	L'assassino... è al telefono	Ranko Drasovic
1972	Pancho Villa	Pancho Villa
1972	A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die	Maggiore Ward
1973	Senza Ragione	Memphis
1975	Lisa and the Devil	Leandro
1975	The Hitman
1975	Inside Out	Harry Morgan
1976	Killer Force	Harry Webb
1978	Capricorn One	Albain
1979	Escape to Athena	Zeno
1979	Beyond the Poseidon Adventure	Capt. Stefan Svevo
1979	The Muppet Movie	El Sleezo Tough
1980	Border Cop	Frank Cooper
1982	Fake-Out	Lt. Thurston
1983	Afghanistan pourquoi?	Rebel Leader
1984	Cannonball Run II	Hymie Kaplan
1985	Beyond Reason	Dr. Nicholas Mati	Originally filmed in 1977 and not released theatrically; made available on home video eight years later Also director and writer
1986	GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords	Magmar	Voice
1988	Faceless	Terry Hallen
1993	Mind Twister	Richard Howland
1995	Backfire!	Most Evil Man	Posthumous release, (final film role)

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1959	NBC Sunday Showcase	Cotton	Episode: "Murder and the Android"
1959–1960	Armstrong Circle Theatre	Dieter Wislieny / Dieter Wisliceny / Father Dominique Georges Henn Pire / Charles Rogan	6 episodes
1960	Diagnosis: Unknown	Irish Tony Salivarro	Episode: "Gina, Gina"
1960	Dow Hour of Great Mysteries		Episode: "The Cat and the Canary"
1960	The Witness	Al Capone / Lucky Luciano	3 episodes
1960	Naked City	Gabriel Hody	Episode: "To Walk in Silence"
1960	The United States Steel Hour		Episode: "Operation North Star"
1961	The Aquanauts	Paul Price	Episode: "Stormy Weather"
1961	Acapulco	Mr. Carver	8 episodes
1961	King of Diamonds	Massis / Jerry Larch	2 episodes
1961	The New Breed	Dr. Buel Reed	Episode: "The Compulsion to Confess"
1961	The Dick Powell Show	Sgt. Marius	Episode: "Three Soldiers"
1961	The Detectives	Ben	Episode: "Escort"
1961	Ben Casey	George Dempsey	Episode: "A Dark Night for Billy Harris"
1961–1962	Cain's Hundred	Harry Remick / Frank Meehan	2 episodes
1961–1963	The Untouchables	Leo Stazak / Matt Bass / Wally Baltzer	3 episodes
1962	Alcoa Premiere	Mario Lombardi	Episode: "The Hands of Danofrio"
1963	The Eleventh Hour	Ben Cohen	Episode: "A Tumble from a High White House"
1963	The Dakotas	Jake Volet	Episode: "Reformation at Big Nose Butte"
1963	Big G	Tibor	Episode: "Arrow in the Sky"
1963	Grindl	Mr. Hartman	Episode: "The Gruesome Basement"
1963	77 Sunset Strip	Brother Hendricksen	Episode: "5: Part 4"
1963	The Twilight Zone	Erich Streator	Episode: "Living Doll"
1963–1965	Burke's Law	Balakirov aka Richard Goldtooth / Charlie Prince / Fakir George O'Shea	3 episodes
1964	Kraft Suspense Theatre	Ramon Castillo / Raymond Castle / Beret	2 episodes
1964	Channing	Paul Atherton	Episode: "A Claim to Immortality"
1964	Arrest and Trial	Frank Santo	Episode: "The Revenge of the Worm"
1964	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Philadelphia Harry	Episode: "A Matter of Murder"
1964	Breaking Point	Vincenzo Gracchi	Episode: "My Hands Are Clean"
1964	The Rogues	Gen. Hector Jesus Diaz	Episode: "Viva Diaz!"
1964	Fanfare for a Death Scene	Ikhedai Khan	Television film
1964–1966	The Fugitive	Steve Keller / Victor Leonetti / Dan Polichek	3 episodes
1964–1967	Combat!	Jon / Colonel Kapsalis	2 episodes
1965	Bonanza	Charles Augustus Hackett	Episode: "To Own the World"
1965	Run for Your Life	Istvan Zabor	Episode: "How to Sell Your Soul for Fun and Profit"
1966	The Virginian	'Colonel' Bliss	Episode: "Men with Guns"
1967	The F.B.I	Ed Clementi	2 episodes
1967	The Man from U.N.C.L.E	Count Valerino De Fanzini	2 episodes
1967	Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre	Mueller	Episode: "Don't Wait for Tomorrow"
1967	Garrison's Gorillas	Wheeler	Episode: "The Big Con"
1967	Cimarron Strip	Bear	Episode: "The Battleground"
1970	The Red Skelton Show	Tex	Episode: "Stagecoach Hijack"
1971	ITV Sunday Night Theatre	Gregor Antonescu	Episode: "Man and Boy"
1971	Mongo's Back in Town	Lt. Pete Tolstad	Television film (also known as Steel Wreath)
1972	Visions...	Lt. Phil Keegan	Television film
1973	The Marcus-Nelson Murders	Lt. Theo Kojak	Television film Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie
1973	She Cried Murder	Insp. Joe Brody	Television film
1973–1978	Kojak	Lt. Theo Kojak	118 episodes Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama (1975–1976) Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (1974) Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama (1977–1978) Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (1975) Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (1975)
1975	Am Iaufenden Band	Singer/Kojak	Episode: #2.1
1978	Windows, Doors & Keyholes		Television film
1979	Alice	Himself	Episode: "Has Anyone Here Seen Telly?"
1979	The French Atlantic Affair	Father Craig Dunleavy	Television miniseries
1980	Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story	Cretzer	Television film
1981	Hellinger's Law	Nick Hellinger	Television film (originally planned as a pilot for a series)
1981	Tales of the Unexpected	Joe Brisson	Episode: "Completely Foolproof"
1982	American Playhouse	Peter Panakos	Episode: "My Palikari"
1984	The Cartier Affair	Phil Drexler	Television film
1985	The Love Boat	Dr. Fabian Cain	2 episodes
1985	Kojak: The Belarus File	Lt. Theo Kojak	Television film (featuring returning Kojak co-stars George Savalas, Dan Frazer, Mark Russell and Vince Conti)
1985	George Burns Comedy Week		Episode: "The Assignment"
1985	Alice in Wonderland	The Cheshire Cat	Television film
1985	Solomon's Universe	Solomon Stark	Television film
1987	Kojak: The Price of Justice	Insp. Theo Kojak	Television film
1987	The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission	Major Wright	Television film
1987	The Equalizer	Brother Joseph Heiden	2 episodes
1987	J.J. Starbuck	The Greek	Episode: "Gold from the Rainbow"
1988	The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission	Major Wright	Television film
1989	The Hollywood Detective	Harry Bell	Television film
1989	Kojak: Ariana	Insp. Theo Kojak	Television film
1989	Kojak: Fatal Flaw		Television film
1990	Kojak: Flowers for Matty		Television film
1990	Kojak: It's Always Something		Television film (with Kojak co-star Kevin Dobson)
1990	Kojak: None So Blind		Television film
1991	Rose Against the Odds	George Parnassus	Television film
1991–1993	Ein Schloß am Wörthersee	Teddy	2 episodes
1992–1993	The Commish	Tommy Colette	3 episodes
1993	The Extraordinary	Himself	Season 1, Episode 1

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result
1963	Academy Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Birdman of Alcatraz	Nominated
1963	Golden Globe Award	Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture	Birdman of Alcatraz	Nominated
1966	Golden Globe Award	Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture	Battle of the Bulge	Nominated
1974	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	Kojak	Won
1975	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actor – Television Series Drama	Kojak	Won
1975	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	Kojak	Nominated
1975	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series	Kojak	Nominated
1976	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actor – Television Series Drama	Kojak	Won
1977	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actor – Television Series Drama	Kojak	Nominated
1978	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actor – Television Series Drama	Kojak	Nominated

See also

References

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2. Pompilio, Natalie (October 8, 2015). "Telly Savalas, Who Loves Ya, Baby?". Legacy.com. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
3. "An Evening with Telly Savalas". Cosmos Philly. August 20, 2017. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
4. GCT (January 21, 2019). "On this day in 1994, Telly Savalas passes away". Greek City Times. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
5. "Kojak: Telly Savalas". woodmereartmuseum.org. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
6. "What the What? Telly Savalas Had a #1 Hit Song on This Date in 1975". K1017FM.com. March 9, 2015. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
7. Richardson, Lisa (January 23, 1994). "From the Archives: 'Kojak' Star Telly Savalas Dies at 70". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 9, 2008.
8. New York Birth Index, 1910-1965.
9. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VSXK-76K
10. "Telly Savalas Biography (1924-1994)". The Biography Channel. A+E Television Networks, LLC. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
11. "SAVALAS TO RECEIVE AWARD WON IN '34". Deseret News. July 18, 1991. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
12. Wende Hyland and Roberta Haynes (1975). How to make it in Hollywood. Nelson-Hall. p. 135. ISBN 9780882292397.
13. Pilato, Herbie J. (2016). Dashing, Daring, and Debonair: TV's Top Male Icons from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 205. ISBN 978-1-63076-052-6.
14. "Biography", Telly Savalas official website
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24. THE TV SCENE---: All World Gets Red's Message Smith, Cecil. Los Angeles Times September 29, 1960: A13
25. NEWS OF TV AND RADIO: Kovacs To Satirize Private Eyes in a Max Liebman Production -- Items By VAL ADAMS. The New York Times November 27, 1960: X13.
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39. KOJAK HAS A HORSE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN CAUGHT: ... 'Four horses just finished in front of him this time,' Telly Savalas says. His confidence in Telly's Pop is unshaken. Incomplete Source Chapin, Dwight. Los Angeles Times April 14, 1976: oc_b1
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42. TELLY SAVALAS: /Kojak Is Back TELLY SAVALAS BY MICHAEL E. HILL. The Washington Post February 10, 1985: PAGE3.
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External links

• Official website
• Telly Savalas on IMDb
• Telly Savalas at the TCM Movie Database