"I'm a romantic realist. I knew I would become a star, just as I know some day the bubble will burst."
Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas (January 21, 1922 – January 22, 1994) was an American actor of Greek descent.
His movie and television career spanned more than thirty years, with quite a few iconic roles such as Archer Maggott in The Dirty Dozen and James Bond's Arch-Enemy Ernst Stavro Blofeld in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. His most memorable TV role was undeniably the lollipop-chomping NYPD Lieutenant Theofilides "Theo" Kojak in Kojak.
He became the stepfather of Nicollette Sheridan after dating her mother Sally (meeting her on the set of On Her Majesty's Secret Service). He was also the godfather of Jennifer Aniston, having been friends with her father, John Aniston.
Works with pages on TV Tropes:
- Cape Fear (1962)
- Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
- Johnny Cool (1963)
- The Twilight Zone (1964, episode "Living Doll")
- The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
- Battle of the Bulge (1965)
- Beau Geste (1966)
- The Dirty Dozen (1967)
- The Scalphunters (1968)
- The Assassination Bureau (1969)
- Mackenna's Gold (1969)
- On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
- Kelly's Heroes (1970)
- Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971)
- A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die! (1972)
- Lisa and the Devil (1973)
- Horror Express (1973)
- Kojak (1973–1978)
- Capricorn One (1978)
- Escape to Athena (1979)
- Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979)
- The Muppet Movie (1979)
- Cannonball Run II (1984)
- Alice in Wonderland (1985)
- Faceless (1987)
Tropes in his works:
- Addiction Displacement: His iconic lollipops as Kojak were a way to help him quit smoking.
- Baldness Angst: Inverted. He proudly showed off his bald head with confidence and, other than a few early roles, never wore a toupee, on screen or in real life.
- Bald of Evil: Most famously as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Archer Maggott in The Dirty Dozen.
- Baritone of Strength: For his roles, particularly the villains, he made very good use of the deep, intimidating voice that years of heavy smoking gave him.
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: His eyebrows were quite full, and his baldness made them stand out.
- Comic-Book Fantasy Casting:
- In the DC Animated Universe, Lex Luthor's design was modeled on him in homage to his role as Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
- Frank Fontaine from BioShock was also modeled after him, but with a mustache and the villainous characters he is known for playing.
- One-Hit Wonder: He released one single song in his life, "If"
, in 1975, to great success. Well, technically, he didn't even sing in it.
