Kemal Sunal
| Kemal Sunal | |
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| Born |
November 11, 1944 Istanbul, Turkey |
| Died | July 3, 2000 (aged 55) Flight between Istanbul, Turkey and Trabzon, Turkey |
| Years active | 1972-2000 |
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Kemal Sunal (11 November 1944, in İstanbul, Turkey – 3 July 2000, in Istanbul) was a Turkish actor. With Hababam Sınıfı, Kapıcılar Kralı and Davaro, Sunal gained large popularity amongst Turkish cinema goers and was famed for his role as "Şaban", a name he most often used in his films. His character in films and sayings often reflected the problems the Turkish people face and the country.
Kemal Sunal graduated from Vefa Lisesi (Vefa High School). In his early ages, he started pursuing what was to become a long and successful acting career, in minor roles in theatres. For a brief period, he worked in the Kenterler Theatre and took part in his first play Zoraki Tabip. He was later transferred to the Devekuşu Kabare Theatre, where he performed his acting.
He was recognized as a real talent, and started receiving offers with larger budgets and more famous casts. His first film was by Ertem Eğilmez. In a matter of years, Sunal co-starred with Halit Akçatepe, Şener Şen, Münir Özkul and so on.
Perhaps the most famous of all his parts was when he played in the "hababam sinifi" and was known by the name of "Şaban" but most of his class mates just call him inek (cow) Şaban. The member of Hababam Sınıfı (The Outrageous Class), was a good laugh for many. İnek Şaban was constantly bullied and humiliated by his friends, but this never kept him from thinking the unthinkable, like digging a tunnel to escape school grounds (which later, turned out to lead to the vice-principal’s office) or smoking in the school attic. The character was so pure and so fixed in the memories of the Turkish people, it was never replaced by another actor in the recent re-shootings of Hababam Sinifi, most probably as a sign of respect to Sunal.
His other notable characters include: Tosun Pasha; Süt Kardeş Şaban; Çöpçüler Kralı, who fell in love with a municipality officer’s fiancee; Doktor Civanım, a former hospital janitor pretending to be a doctor upon his return to his home village; and finally "Orta Direk Şaban", a naive man trying to become an athlete to impress his crush.
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Wikipedia